Ending the Cycle
by richard94588
Summary: The Great Wars are over. The Koprulu Sector's factions have been at peace for more than a year. On the other side of the galaxy, the Reapers have finally returned to citadel space, determined to continue their cycle. Unfortunately for the Reapers, the hardened veterans of the K-Sector are equally determined to stop them. [contains OCs, slightly AU]
1. Chapter 1: Middle of Nowhere

**Chapter One: the Middle of Nowhere**

"One-Alpha checking in."

"One-Bravo checking in."

"One-Charlie reporting."

"One-Delta reporting."

"One-Echo armed and ready."

"Acknowledged. All squads converge on the xel'naga temple. Secure the area. Clear out any tal'darim that you find. Keep in contact. Crimson Dragon out."

More than a year-and-a-half had passed since the newly-allied forces of the Sector had defeated the fallen xel'naga Amon and his Hybrids in early-2505. Stray hybrids, scattered broods of feral zerg, and Amon's fanatical tal'darim protoss followers continued to cause trouble occasionally, but for all practical purposes, the Great Wars were over.

The Terran Dominion and Protoss Protectorate managed to coexist without grabbing C-14 Impaler gauss rifles or igniting psionic blades in the post-war days. Indeed, their militaries now cooperated on many joint operations. To the surprise of many, Emperor Valerian Mengsk and Hierarch Artanis had befriended each other. Having come to know both of them very well over the last six or seven years, I wasn't too shocked. Fortunately, their subordinates and constituents did their best to follow their examples.

Of course, Raynor had a big part to play in establishing the peace as well. He'd smoothed over border disputes between the two factions and kept everyone from trying to start another war with the zerg swarm to get revenge on Kerrigan. The fact that the Queen of Blades had played a major role in bringing down Amon certainly helped with that.

As I stood by a parked _Hercules_ dropship waiting for the sixty men of my finest platoon to accomplish their objective, my mind was a thousand light years away.

If I hadn't joined the Alliance marine corps more than ten years ago, if I hadn't been posted on Elysium during the Skyllian Blitz, my life would be very different. Today, I was a brigadier general in charge of the Dominion marine corps' finest regiment, one of Emperor Valerian's most trusted officers. I'd served in the past as an aide to High Executor Tassadar, the savior of the templar himself. His last remaining relative and heir, 137-year old Praetor Naoros, considered me his brother-in-arms. Artanis had gone as far as to officially declare me a full protoss citizen. Even Raynor hadn't received that honor.

Back in 2496, (2176 back home on Earth) I'd been nothing but an inexperienced, naive private first-class in one of the Alliance's frontier divisions. I'd been a good student in high school; my friends always called me smart, but if it wasn't for the protoss, I would probably be a POW on one of the Batarian Hegemony's many colonies. Who knows, maybe even Khar'shan.

Either way, I wouldn't be standing where I was today. The Protoss still considered me one of 'them' even though I'd pretty much deserted the protoss military in the later half of 2502 after being persecuted by the Ara tribe. Through all that political crap, the Akilae tribe had defended me unflinchingly. Zeratul, a bit more than two years later, asked me to return to Shakuras to help him unite the fractured protoss tribes.

In the meantime, I owed a lot to the young terran emperor too. Valerian had given me the command of a battalion of marine recruits despite me being a total stranger, trusting that my experience with the protoss would suffice. He was also young enough to be my younger brother, oddly enough. It was with the Dominion military that I'd spent the last three years of my career, and it was a platoon of Dominion marines who I led into the field today.

Valerian, much to my chagrin, had insisted on accompanying the detachment I'd brought from my own 151st Marine Expeditionary Unit to this planet in the middle of nowhere. In retrospect, I shouldn't have been that bewildered. Though he was a politician by trade, Valerian's passion was archaeology. He was especially interested in anything that had to do with the xel'naga. Since he was also the terran military's _de facto_ commander-in-chief, well...it's easy to see why we'd been sent to the largely unsettled Vornar system in the first place.

A Nerazim warband led personally by Dark Prelate Zeratul had discovered the largest xel'naga ruins on record there.

Vornar II wasn't exactly friendly territory, and Augustgrad's monarch would be a juicy target to anyone hoping to destabilize our sector of space, but... well, you couldn't exactly say no to the benevolent ruler of billions.

About half an hour ago, my platoon of marines had deployed by dropship to separate parts of the xel'naga ruins. In the meantime, Zeratul's warband had secured the main temple structure. They hadn't found any resistance, but as the old saying goes, it's better to be safe than sorry. Hence, I wouldn't be bringing in Valerian and the others until the area seemed sufficiently safe.

Valerian wasn't the only one I had with me. That'd be leaving it _way _too easy for any potential attackers. Zhadun, a trusted companion of Zeratul's, stood on guard with six of his men nearby, disciplined warriors who'd seen Aiur fall. Additionally, my own special team was at my side:

Sergeant Major Robert Agnarsson was a young, idealistic citizen of Tarsonis City who had been one of the 151st's original recruits. He was dependable and loyal to a fault, yet straightforward and unassuming at the same time. I still remembered how devastated he'd felt when he found out the _real _reason Korhal had fallen to the zerg swarm in 2500.

Umojan Shadowguard Agent Ulli "Tesla" Trey had been assigned by Valerian to be my 'bodyguard.' Every general and admiral got one, as a rule, for security reasons. With a PI of 10, Tesla had the tactical mind of at least a battalion leader, and was more effective than agent Nova as a reconnaissance expert and sniper, if not as an assassin.

I don't know how Valerian managed to get the umojans to turn over one of their best agents to his command, but his grandfather _was _Ailin Pasteur, a member of the Umojan Ruling Council.

Second Lieutenant Tennyson "Tenny" Smith was a shock trooper who'd somehow retained his sanity and morality despite being inducted into the notorious reaper corps. He also had a PI of 7. How he managed to hide that from the wranglers of the Ghost Program I have no idea. No doubt an over-confident, showy cynic, Tenny could nevertheless be trusted in a crisis.

Private First Class Douglas Haster was the youngest of the group, a naive Mar Saran who'd begged me to let him enlist into the 151st while I was with Raynor visiting the colonists a month ago. I don't know what persuaded me to let him sign on. Maybe because he reminded me of _me_ ten years ago. He learned quickly, and I found I enjoyed telling the kid stories about the protoss and showing him what life in the corps is like.

Another relatively recent addition to my little team was lance corporal Anna Lewis, a medic who'd been transferred to the 151st in 2504, which was later than most. It turned out to be a logistics error on the part of Dominion High Command. I wasn't dumb enough to refuse an extra medic, of course. Lewis proved to be extremely talented despite her inexperience.

"Sir, this is Borman." The platoon's lieutenant reported a few moments later. "Scanners aren't picking up any bad guys in-zone. I think you and Demosthenes can start heading over. I'm putting prelate Zeratul on the line." Demosthenes was Valerian's call-sign. It wouldn't be smart to directly call him "Emperor" in a potentially hostile system.

"Greetings, friend Lee." Zeratul's deep voice boomed. I saw Lewis and Haster openly flinch. I didn't blame them-when the protoss talked to you, it initially felt like hearing an announcer on a loudspeaker yelling right into your ear. They'd get used to it in time, I knew.

"Prelate. Honored." I said, keeping the formalities to a minimum, as Zeratul always insisted. "How many are with you?"

"Two score, a majority of them scientists and scholars. We have discovered a rather interesting artifact. I believe Demosthenes will be pleased. I welcome you to our camp, humble and makeshift though it may be."

"Thank you. We'll be there soon. Over and out." I turned to the others. "It's time to roll out, people. Check your gear twice, and check it _again_. Make sure you have _everything_ you need."

Not to be outdone, I followed my own advice. My power armor made me a little over 8.5-feet tall, about six inches taller than terran marines were in their CMC Armor. Fully crimson in color (as opposed to the red-and-black of the marines), my suit of armor constituted of a mix of protoss and terran technology. It was sleeker than marine armor, far more resilient, and reinforced by multiple layers of energy shields.

I carried a power sword and a plasma rifle into battle. The power sword reminded me of the weapon of the same name from _Warhammer 40k_. It could slice through rocks, doors, walls, siege tank armor. Psionic blades couldn't even break it. Protoss artisans had designed my plasma rifle to look like a terran rifle. It fired blue bolts composed of a mix of plasma and psionic energy. The khalai had actually integrated a small Khaydarin crystal into it-after several _hundred _shots, I had to wait a few seconds for it to recharge, but I'd never run out of ammo.

The Nerazim warriors simply strode forward in front of us, leaving their warp blades de-activated. Their energy shields would give them an edge over any foe. They didn't need to physically test their blades to know that they worked. Their decades of experience were proof enough.

Agnarsson hefted his C-14 Impaler, extending and retracting its bayonet before patting the "blaster" heavy slugthrower pistol at his side. Tenny flashed his P-38 Scythe pistols and checked his deuterium-8 charges. Tesla shouldered her C-20A rifle, flipped her experimental laser pistol into the air, and flicked her psy blade on and off again. Lewis had a combat shield mounted on her left arm, yet she was still able to quickly ensure that her A-13 grenade launcher, flash grenades, and C-7 Stinger gauss pistol were all in place.

Valerian wore a full black suit of CMC armor. He held a C-14 just like any marine would, a fancy gauss pistol hanging at his side. He additionally carried a combat blade, I noticed. People were usually astonished to learn that Valerian knew three types of martial arts, could handle just about any type of firearm, and fenced in his free time. He was deadly in his own right, despite having received no "formal" military training.

Douglas was... decidedly less confident. I realized that this was only his...third actual potential combat situation. He'd forgotten to load his standard-issue flak pistol. He _dropped_ it while trying to pull it out, after an unsuccessful attempt to balance his C-14 with his other hand.

_I probably should have sent him to basic._

Luckily, before I could embarrass him for being as clumsy as I'd been in boot camp, Lewis intervened. She picked up the pistol with her free hand, handing it grip-first back to Haster. Gratefully taking the flak pistol, he tried again, this time laying his C-14 on the ground first.

"Okay, kid, if you're _done_, we gotta get a move on." Rob barked. Doug jerked as if he had been struck. "Aye aye sir!"

"We aren't swabbies, this isn't boot camp, and I'm _not _a fekking officer! I've got no use for aye ayes. '_Sir'_ is standing over there to your right. It's _sergeant_. _Major_... We clear, _private_?"

"Crystal, sergeant major!"

"That's better." Rob allowed. "Now stay on my ass. Don't even _think _about trying to be a hero. Only dumbasses like the General or geniuses like me have the right to do that."

Valerian smiled. "You going to take that, Richard?"

"Not worth it getting mad over the small things, Valerian. You excited?"

"I am…" He said with a straight face. "You don't sound especially upbeat, yourself."

"Me? I'm bored. Finding myself thinking of Earth more now that the war's over."

"Homesick? I can relate. I still think of Umoja at times."

"Thing is, Valerian. You had to move around a lot growing up. I stayed in the same suburban town from when I was born all the way up to when I joined the marine corps after high school ...That reminds me...Funny how there's two Earth's, huh?"

"In the end, Earth is just a toponym. The two Earth's and their respective star systems are entirely different, so the only fact that troubles me is that two separate human civilizations emerged in two...such _distant _places. It cannot be coincidence. Someone, perhaps the xel'naga, moved a population of humans from one of the Earths onto the other. From what you've told me about your Earth, I'd venture to guess that your homeworld is the 'real' Earth."

"Still...it's weird that the names are the _same._"

"The names are the _only _things similar about them, Richard."

"Yeah yeah, I know." I replied, changing the subject. "I wonder what's so special about this artifact Zeratul mentioned."

"We will find out soon, I'm sure. The dark prelate is proficient both in creating mysteries and unlocking them."

"Ain't that the truth," I agreed.

Valerian glanced at me in amusement.

"What? It's slang, all right? I grew up in a relatively wealthy area, but I wasn't in the top 0.01% like you were. I _will _admit, however that I never talk like that."

"Precisely the reason for my surprise," Valerian said.

"All right...there's the camp over yonder. Tesla, how much longer before we get there?"

"Fifteen, twenty minutes of walking? Yeah, it sucks, but don't forget you were the one who decided that this place was a potential red zone."

"Don't start celebrating your victory just yet, Tesla. We aren't safely at our objective, are we?"

"You almost sound like you _want_ something to go wrong," Anna pointed out.

"He does." Tenny bluntly replied. "I do too. Life has been _way _too boring lately. Nothing to shoot. No one to roast. It makes me hungry just thinking about it."

I facepalmed. "You _would _say that."

"Yup, you know it." _Wow..._

My men came to attention as we finally arrived at the camp. Lieutenant Borman reported on what they'd found so far, assuring me that he kept 10 men on guard duty at all times.

Zeratul's nerazim scientists were examining a large object that reminded me of the xel'naga device from the battle of Char. A circular base with a pillar-shaped construct sticking out of it. There were a few obvious differences, though.

As the rest of us settled in for the day, Valerian and Zeratul oversaw the researchers. They were clustered around the artifact, pointing, manipulating pieces, reading inscriptions and chatting.

A couple hours later, I was teaching the Doug the importance of vigilance during off-duty hours when I heard a resounding _boom_. The ground shook. Looking up, I saw that the artifact had begun to glow a bright red. Why did that make me feel like something had gone totally FUBAR?

_Because something _did _go totally FUBAR_. Tesla confirmed telepathically.

A forcefield of red energy emitted from the artifact, beginning to form a dome around us.

"No one move." Valerian whispered over the general comm-link.

"What the fekk's going on?" Doug asked. The seventeen year-old was obviously close to panic. Lewis placed a hand on his shoulder, but glanced at me questioningly.

I shook my head. _No idea_. We all stared at the widening dome. It growed until all of us were encompassed inside it. Was it a defense mechanism? Were we all about to be incinerated?

There was no way to be sure. The only thing we could do was wait.

One of the nerazim didn't take the situation so calmly. He sprang at the artifact in desperation. As soon as he touched the device, a torrent of red energy washed over him. He _dissolved_.

The other dark templar civilians could no longer restrain their terror.

Zhadun snarled, "Hold!" His warriors began moving to block the agitated noncombatants.

A sudden red flash blinded my vision, a wave of energy sending me flying backwards. I hit an unseen object/surface hard enough that I blacked out.

* * *

"General!"

_Oww…_

"Sir!"

_I know that voice._

"Wake up, sir!"

I opened my eyes groggily, recognizing Rob and Tesla standing over me.

"Sir, how many fingers am I holding up?" Tesla looked genuinely concerned.

"Uh...5762?"

Rob chuckled. "Come on, sir. No lying down on the job." He pulled me up quickly.

"Where are the others? And where in the hell _are we_?"

"Just as clueless as you are, sir." Tesla shrugged.

"If you ask me, this place is planet shithole." Rob said distastefully. "Who'd want to live here? It's a goddamn...wasteland."

"Strange...I'm picking up abnormally high levels of radioactivity. There must have been a nuclear war on this planet at some point." Tesla informed us.

"Attention, this is Crimson Dragon. Is anyone out there? Over."

"This is Demosthenes. I'm with the prelate. It doesn't seem like any of the nerazim scientists made it. I can confirm that the praetor and his men are still alive. So are all of your marines. Interestingly enough, I think that we've been _teleported _somewhere. When scientist Ulrador was dissolved by the artifact, it must have thrown off the device's calculations, leading to those nearest the artifact being killed and scattering the rest of us."

"Understood. I'll have agent Tesla send out a signal over your HUDs. Standing orders are to regroup on my coordinates. No exceptions. That includes you, Demosthenes."

"Of course, dragon. I'll notify the fists." The 151st Regiment was known as Freedom's Fist, so its marines were nicknamed the fists. "Be advised. It may take us all a while to reach your current location. We're not far from you, but with no vehicles…"

"Take your time. We'll try not to move too far from this position. Over and out."

"Hear that?" Tesla asked as soon as I cut the com-link. _Gunfire_, she clarified telepathically.

"Ugh, don't do that. You're making my head hurt." Rob complained.

"Deal with it."

The familiar sound of mass accelerator fire reached my ears. _Great_…

For the first time, I realized we were standing near an old, ruined...facility of some sort. A really _big _one. I jumped when I heard a loud series of thunderous bangs.

"What the heck was that?"

Tesla glanced at me, her expression strangely wry. "I can't be sure, sir, but if I had to guess," She pointed into the air behind me. "I'd say it has something to do with that giant cannon."

"What giant..._oh_."

A massive anti-aircraft cannon loomed over us, firing shots at distant, unseen targets. I shook my head. This entire place looked so run-down. Who'd put such a powerful gun out in the middle of nowhere? The area was so vulnerable… The mass accelerator fire continued.

Someone wanted to disable that cannon...

"Demosthenes. Dragon here. You hearing that?"

"If you're talking about that booming noise, yes."

"It's some sort of anti-aircraft gun. I can hear mass accelerator fire too. I'm going to investigate. So you see that big structure near our coords? That's where you'll find us. I'll keep you updated on the situation. Just...stay frosty. Over."

I motioned to Tesla and Rob. "Weapons free. Let's get in there and figure out what's going on. Tesla, I want you to stay a good ten or twelve steps behind us to cover our six. You're a lot less noisy than we are, so anyone trying to flank us won't notice you. Come on, Rob."

I jogged forward into the facility, taking a moment to examine its dust-colored walls. A wikipedia article I read a decade ago nagged at the back of my mind, but I couldn't recall it. My plasma rifle was already in hand.

"Contacts!" A distorted voice yelled. Incoming fire sparkled on my shields. A few stray rounds bounced off of Rob's armor.

"Shit. Cover!" I roared, spraying my plasma rifle. Our attackers wore white. black, and yellow armor. I narrowed my eyes. _Cerberus_. What the hell were _they _doing here?

"Demosthenes, hostiles inside the facility. White, yellow, and black armor. I repeat, tri-colored armor-black, white, and yellow. Engage on sight."

One of my bolts nailed a cerberus trooper. His two buddies had terrible aim. I noted that both were shooting in three-round bursts. Their guns were too small to be assault rifles. SMGs, maybe? Those were some pretty long-range SMGs they were toting.

One of them swore, pulling some sort of _clip _out of the gun and replacing it with another one. _I thought mass accelerators didn't _use _clips. _Then again, a lot can change in ten years...

Tesla's C-20A spat two short bursts. Bothcerberus troopers collapsed.

"Damn, didn't even get to press the trigger." Rob muttered. "Nice shootin, ghostie."

"For the _last _time, Robert. I. Am not. A ghost."

"Stow it, you two." I snapped. "More hostiles."

Two cerberus troopers holding riot shields were lumbering towards us, backed by four more troopers and heavier-armored trooper with an assault rifle. I blinked. Did these guys really think that I'd be scared of two guys with riot shields when I was eight-and-a-half feet tall?

I charged forward, not bothering to fire my rifle. I slammed into both of them, sending them sprawling. My momentum carried me into the assault-rifle wielding cerberus trooper, who I also knocked down. I shot one of the SMG-wielding troopers, whacked another one under the chin, and speared my rifle's bayonet into the third one's chest.

Sliding the plasma rifle over my back, I drew my power sword in time to cut down the trooper with the assault rifle, who was back on his feet. I kicked one of the shield-holding guys before slashing him with a downward stroke. Reversing the blade, I plunged it into the other one. That left a single survivor. I grabbed with one hand and threw him into the nearby wall.

Walking up to him, I put the tip of my power sword to his throat. "What is cerberus doing here?"

The man groaned. "The anti-aircraft gun…"

"What are you doing with it?" I demanded.

He coughed. "We were...using it to clear the way for...one of our cruisers to land…"

"Okay. Now, what planet is this?"

"You really don't know?"

"What_ planet_?"

"T-Tu-Tuchanka…" _Tuchanka_? Homeworld _of the krogan_?

"How many of you are there?"

"Com-Company..."

"Incoming!" Rob warned, opening fire. Tesla's C-20A joined the fray a second later.

The cerberus trooper pulled out a frag grenade. "Die…" The resulting explosion staggered me. My shields dropped to forty-percent. _Effing Cerberus._

Rob stomped down onto a trooper, finishing him off. He and Tesla had already taken care of our four latest cerberus attackers.

We had just passed through another hallway when Tesla cocked her head to one side and engaged her cloaking device. That meant…

"Drop your weapons!" A flangling voice hollered.

Rob and I swiftly pointed our rifles at the speaker, a turian in blue armor holding an assault rifle. At his side were...an asari with a pistol, a human specops marine in grayish combat armor wielding a shotgun, an Alliance N7 with an assault rifle, and a...mech...of some sort holding an SMG. _I'm making a lot of new friends today_.

"Dream on." Rob growled. "I don't take orders from you."

From behind us, a voice calmly said. "I'd do as Garrus said, if I were you."

Three men in dark green armor and two in black armor were pointing assault rifles and a submachine gun at us. I nearly did a double-take when I realized that all five of them sported the emblem of the CIA.

"We don't want trouble. Just drop the guns, and I'm sure we can work this out." The leader of the CIA men continued.

"Or _you _could all drop your weapons." Tesla said smoothly. A red dot appeared on the N7's forehead. "Of course, you _could_ just let me pop your commander's head."

The CIA team leader sneered. "The Agency doesn't forget its enemies, bitch."

"Neither does the Dominion." I answered him. "I know who I'm dealing with. You don't."

"Oh really? I think I know exactly who you are. A secret Cerberus cell."

"You really think _Cerberus _has the tech necessary to make _this _armor?" I laughed out loud. "Like I said, you _don't know _who you're dealing with, so I suggest you lay off."

"And just FYI, we took down a few teams of the...cerberus troops you're talking about on the way up. I don't know how you could possibly confuse us with _them_. For starters, they aren't clad in 8-foot tall powered combat suits like these two are." Tesla observed sardonically. "And in case you were wondering, I don't like it when people call me a bitch."

The N7 raised an eyebrow. "If you're not Cerberus, what are you doing here?"

"Well...even if I told you, you wouldn't believe us." I responded.

"This is obviously one big misunderstanding." The N7 amended. "If you'll put your weapons away, we'll do the same." He offered.

Rob snorted. "You first."

The N7 nodded. "Suit yourself." He replaced his assault rifle. In a series of clicks, the others did the same, their mass accelerators folding into more compact shapes. The five CIA men joined the N7's group so that all ten of them stood in front of us.

I slid my plasma rifle over my back. Rob slowly laid his C-14 against the wall. Tesla shouldered her C-20A reluctantly and came up on my left, continuing to monitor them warily for any suspicious movements with a hand on her laser pistol.

"Okay, why don't we start over?" The N7 sounded sincere. "My name is Commander John Shepard of the Alliance Navy. My team and I were sent to secure this facility. Cerberus is using an ancient krogan anti-aircraft gun to clear a path for one of its cruisers to enter low atmosphere. If the cruiser makes it, it'll cause lots of problems for the krogan ground resistance."

_Shepard_. _I knew a Shepard back in the day. _"Hmm...tell me, Commander. Were you posted on Elysium in 2176 by any chance?"

Shepard stiffened. "I was. Why?"

"Then I'd like to ask you...how did it turn out in the end? Being shot by a stun gun isn't fun, as you might imagine. How's Shaun Kalantari? I remember he was with us when the mercs and slavers showed up in March. He get into the SAD like he always said he wanted to?"

John froze. "No way…"

"Richard Lee. Alliance marine corps private first class. 127th regiment, 3rd Frontier Division. MIA as of March 2176. Reporting for duty." I lowered my visor.

John's jaw dropped open. "_Richard_? You've been _alive _all this time?!" He shouted. "What the _fuck_, man? Why didn't you tell anybody? It's been ten _freaking years!_"

"I know how long it's been, John. I haven't been living under a _rock _all this time."

Shepard shook his head. "We won on Elysium. The brass gave me a Star of Terra. As for your second question...well...I think they can tell you the answer personally."

He gestured to the five CIA men. "Richard, say hello to your old friends: Shaun Kalantari, Kayvon Heravi, Eiad Nasser, Minsu Kim, and Nathan Zhang. It's not all of your friends, but it's five of them. Guys, it looks like our mutual acquaintance is back after a _very_ long time abroad."

"Holy _shit_." _Minsu_.

"Richard…._Damn_. Never thought I'd see the day…" _Kayvon_.

The others were speechless. After a protracted pause, Shaun cleared his throat.

"Well, Richard. Welcome back. I'm sure you'll have a lot of stories to share with us."

"Yeah. It's been one intense decade for me. How is it back home?"

John, Shaun, and the others winced. "You really don't know?" John queried.

Shaun sighed. "Earth fell to a race of sentient starships two weeks ago. They're called the Reapers, and they're more powerful than any enemy we've ever known. Palaven was hit a few days after that. Colonies across citadel space have gone dark. Thessia and Sur'kesh are safe for now, but we don't know how long that's going to last. It's an epic disaster.

"Cerberus somehow expanded its membership; they may be working with the reapers. They conquered Omega and drove out Aria T'loak, they're raiding convoys and attacking colonies. You remember all those days we used to laugh at the word 'apocalypse?' It's actually happening now, and there's nothing we can do to stop it."

I clenched a fist in rage, staring right into Shaun's eyes. "I'll help you stop them. And I'm not alone." I extended my right hand. Shaun looked down at it, blinked as if in a daze, and then shook it, grinning. I shook John's hand just as firmly.

"How bad is it?" _Those reapers are _so _going down…_

"Resistance on Earth's been reduced to just a guerilla movement. Comms are down. The only things people can communicate with are the old radios and the newly-developed Quantum Entanglement Communicators. Much of the developing world is totally dark, entire cities have stopped checking in, and millions of people are being processed or killed every day."

"Processed?" Rob asked dubiously.

"Turned into husks." Shaun clarified, showing us a picture. "Or mixed with batarians to make cannibals." He showed us another photo.

I grimaced. "Fucking A. And these reapers? What can you tell me about them?"

"There are two types of them. 160-meter long destroyers and 2-kilometer long capital ships. They seem to be led by a reaper named harbinger. Every 50,000 years, they come back from dark space to harvest all space-faring organic civilizations. They've been doing that for more than a billion years now, most likely. Conventionally, the combined navies of the entire galaxy wouldn't even be a match for them."

"I see. And Cerberus is just derping around trying to fulfill their own obscure agenda?"

"That's the idea," Shaun confirmed.

A few loud cracks sounded in the distance. "We have to take that AA gun out of cerberus hands," John interjected. "We can fill you in later."

"Actually," I corrected him. "_You _don't need to do anything. I've got this handled."

Everyone gazed at me in confusion. "Demosthenes, come in."

"Yes, General?"

"Status report, please."

"We're currently gathered outside of the ancient facility. You?"

"We're inside it right now. Listen, can you all lock and load? I have a task for you."

"What might that be, brother?" Zhadun rumbled.

"Clear this facility of hostiles. I'm uploading all relevant data to your HUDs. Split into teams and sweep every _inch _if you need to. I want this place green in five. Over."

"Understood. Moving in now."

Immediately, the sounds of armor thudding on the ground and the roar of a dozen different C-14's could be heard reverberating throughout the facility.

John gaped at me visibly. "_General_, huh? You've come up in the world, Richy."

"Hell, are _all _of your people as heavily armored as you are?" the gray-armored marine asked.

"No, but they are as heavily armored as Robert is." I replied honestly.

A cerberus trooper came _flying _through the doorway, smashing into the far wall with an audible _crash._ A golden-armored blur sprang into the room, throwing another trooper aside carelessly.

"This is easier than hunting zerglings." Zhadun grumbled. "It's not even _marginally _a fair fight. If the people here are _all _like this, how in the name of Aiur has anyone in citadel space managed to thrive and prosper for so long?"

He noticed John, Shaun, Garrus, and the others, who were gawking at him, eyes wide. "Oh...this situation is...rather awkward...Zhadun of the protoss, pleased to meet all of you."

"Uh...Hi…" John managed.

"No offense, but what are they _feeding _you?"

"Protoss don't eat anything. They gain sustenance through photosynthesis, Mr…" I explained.

"Vega. Lieutenant James Vega."

"Vega. Good to know. That reminds me, John, you still haven't introduced the others."

"Oh, that's right. This is Garrus Vakarian. He's been with me for a long time now, and he's the best shot on the team besides Shaun and I. This is Dr. Liara T'Soni. She's been with me just about as long as Garrus. That there is EDI...my ship's...AI…"

"Artificial Intelligence? I thought those were supposed to be illegal."

"They _are _illegal...it's a long story."

"Got it. I'm guessing there's a lot of other people I haven't met?"

"There definitely are." Shaun answered for him. "Urdnot Wrex and Mordin Solus, for starters."

"We'll cross those bridges when we come to them." Shepard decided.

"Sounds good to me. I have a few introductions to make, too. This is sergeant major Robert Agnarsson, my regiment's senior NCO. And this is agent Tesla, my...assistant, I guess you could say. They're members of the Terran Dominion Armed Forces. That's right boys and girls. Don't ask me how, but there's an extra-galactic civilization of humans out there."

Before any of them could comment, Zeratul's deep voice announced. "We have cleared the facility and come across a control panel. I am unclear how to proceed."

"That's up to us," John affirmed. "We'll talk later. I have to use that gun to shoot down that cerberus cruiser that's trying to pull in overhead."

I nodded. "First things first, as always."

John and EDI hurried in the direction of the control room.

"Zeratul, you have friendlies incoming. They're...friends of mine."

"I can tell the difference between allies and foes, friend Lee. You need not worry."

Garrus faced me. "Sorry about earlier…I just...haven't seen anyone quite like _you _all before…"

"Same here, Garrus!" Vega blurted out. "Hell, you lot look like you could wrestle _krogan_!"

"Protoss warriors easily could," I agreed. "Terran marines are taller and just as bulky as krogan, but we're not as physically massive. Krogan weigh half-a-ton. CMC armor's heavy; it adds about five-hundred or so pounds to a person's weight. Still, we're a good three hundred pounds lighter than your average krogan. CQC between us and them would be pretty intense. Gauss rifles are stronger than mass accelerators are, so in a shoot-out it'd be a pretty clear-cut win for us."

"You sound really confident," Eiad said. "Have you ever seen a krogan in battle?"

"Have _you _seen the Terran Marine Corps in battle?" I retorted. That shut him up.

It wasn't too long before John and co. came back, joined by Valerian, Zeratul, Lewis, Doug, my 60 marines and ten dark templar.

"I've called the _Normandy_, my stealth frigate, for evac. I don't think we'll have room for all of your men and equipment." John alerted us apologetically.

Tesla smirked. "No need to worry, Commander."

"What do you mean, miss Tesla?" Valerian wondered. "We're cut off from the Koprulu Sector. There's no way off-world for us besides going with the commander."

"Cut off from Koprulu? Oh, don't be _ridiculous_, sir."

I looked at her weirdly.

"No, I am _not _high, _sir._" Tesla glared at me. "Observer, now would be a good time…"

There was a cheerful-sounding chirp, and then a golden orb materialized beside her. "See? Now all we need to do is have the observer transmit our whereabouts back to Korhal or Shakuras."

The observer beeped. I smiled broadly. "Okay, you are just a genius, Tesla. How'd you know there was an observer nearby?"

"Unlike you sir, I actually pay attention to where the observers that we deploy _are_. It's been more than a year, sure, but it doesn't take that much effort to check on their status once in a while."

"Great work. John, Shaun, I want both of you to forward to me all the information you have on the reapers. I want the Koprulu Sector's leaders to know _exactly_ what we're dealing with. Observer, relay a request for an expeditionary force to be posted here. Cite the Warfield Protocol.

"With your permission John, I'd like to ask that you let my squad and Valerian come aboard your ship. It's time for me to be at the center of things again."

"Permission granted. It'll be great having you aboard, I can already tell. Just be prepared for a lot of clueless crewmen gawking at you guys. And full reveal: the Turian Primarch of Palaven and the overload of the Krogan, Urdnot Wrex, are both aboard."

I cracked up. "My my, John, you're a lucky guy. You get to add _another _head-of-state to your collection!"

John, obviously, had no idea what I was talking about.

"Commander, meet _Emperor _Valerian Mengsk, ruler of the Terran Dominion."

John was dumbfounded. "...No offense sir, but you seem _really _young."

"I'm twenty-five, Commander. I get that a lot."

"Twenty-five? _Spirits_!" Garrus nearly shouted. "That's how old _Tali _is!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Another old friend?"

"A quarian machinist, actually." Shaun expounded. "Daughter of an Admiral."

"Huh…Cool. Never met a quarian before…And wait…what are you guys doing on _Tuchanka_, anyways? Enlisting the krogan for the war effort?"

"Yeah…." Shaun started uncomfortably.

"As part of the deal, we have to cure the genophage." Nathan finished for him.

I couldn't believe it. "You're...not joking...are you?"

"Nope." Shepard pronounced. A friend of ours, a salarian named Dr. Mordin Solus, has already synthesized a cure. Once we head back to the _Normandy_, we'll be discussing with Wrex and the primarch about how to deploy it."

"_Whoa..._.If you ask me, it's about time they got their cure." I declared. "Sounds like this Dr. Solus and Egon would get along, don't you think Valerian?"

"Indeed. I'm sure Dr. Stetmann would be eager to meet him." The emperor mused.

A new voice crackled over my comm. "Richard, you there?" _Jim Raynor?!_

"Yeah, Jim." I answered nervously. "I'm here. Alive and kicking."

"Good to hear. Just what the _heck _happened on Vornar II?" The commander of Raynor's Raiders barked angrily. "Do you have _any _idea how worried we all were?"

"Sorry, Jim I- listen...are you on your way over or something?"

"You bet your life's savings I'm on my way over! I swear, I relax for _one second…_"

"Two weeks, actually."

"_Not. The point."_

"Copy that, Marshall."

"Uh-huh…" he sighed in exasperation. "Artanis says 'yes' by the way. You can expect the expeditionary force in about a week or so. I grabbed the _Hyperion _and the raiders as soon as I heard you all went missing, and we managed to figure out where you went. Lucky for both of us, Tosh noticed you guys on the observer network's vid-feeds."

"Wait...you're already almost _here_? How long has it been?"

"Since you activated that artifact? Ten days."

"Wow...so that artifact didn't _just _teleport us…"

"Yeah, guess not, huh? Anyways...you guys are on...Two...Two-Shank-a?"

Everyone within hearing burst into laughter. "_Tuchanka_, Jim. Tuchanka."

"Hey, cut me some slack! I didn't even know that you were _serious_ about coming from another part of the galaxy until yesterday! ...Oh boy...Hold on tight, we're thirty minutes out."

"Got it. Don't rush. By the way, Jim….there's a war on."

"I know. We passed a squid-thing on our way here. It was attacking a couple...er...turdian ships. We helped them out, blasted it with our Yamato. I think it was one of the smaller squids."

"Hahahahaha!" Shaun, Kayvon, Eiad, Nathan, and Minsu guffawed. "He just called you a _turd_, Garrus!" Garrus's mandibles flared in amusement mixed with embarrassment.

"Right...Jim, it's _turian_, not turdian."

"God damn it...aliens and their complicated names...whatever. Stay safe, Richard."

"Yeah, you too. One last thing: Valerian and my squad will be boarding my friend John Shepard's stealth frigate, the _Normandy_, one of the ships under the System Alliance's command. That's the human government here. If you could pick up my men, Zeratul, and the ten dark templar with us though, I'd appreciate it."

"Sure thing, Rich. Tell that Shepard buddy of yours that I'll kill him if anything happens to you or junior. I'm always watching."

"Aww….that's so sweet…" Tesla's tone was light.

"And tell that annoying ghost of yours that if she doesn't _shut up_, I'll...uh...throw her out the airlock."

Robert, Tenny, and Doug chortled. "Hah! You just got _told_, Tess!" The sergeant major teased.

I exchanged a glance with Valerian. We both jokingly shook our heads in despair

"...Look at this, Valerian...what is society coming to?" I asked melodramatically.

As a _kodiak _shuttle approached to ferry some of us to the _Normandy_, everyone, terran, human, and otherwise, broke out into laughter.

Elsewhere, the war against the reapers raged. But for now, we were just one big…family. We were from different planets and star systems, and many of us were strangers who had just met less than fifteen minutes ago. Yet, from these humble beginnings sprung what would become a lasting alliance between the races of citadel space and the factions of the Koprulu Sector.

* * *

**That's the new-and-improved version of chapter one, folks. I know that this story seems like a pseudo-SI right now, and to be honest, it kind of is. However, I am planning on adding original content and plot elements. That just may not be too evident in my first few chapters, because Shepard, his crew, and the other Earth-based OCs will all be important in the story (Thus, I used my OC's arrival on Tuchanka to introduce them into the story)**

**Thanks for taking the time to read this. Favorite and follow the story if you like it, and don't hesitate to leave a review or PM me with any questions or feedback you may have! **


	2. Chapter 2: A Future For The Krogan

**Author's note: I was able to finish chapter two a lot earlier then I initially planned. I guess you can all consider it my gift to you for being so ambiguous and uncertain about the story in the first few days. Enjoy!**

**Lone Gundam: That's not exactly an integral part of my story, but you'll see that I did address that.**

**damon blade: Great thinking. That's exactly what I was planning on doing with the zerg.**

**SpecH82: I wholeheartedly agree.**

**ivon: Thanks for your support. It doesn't take _too_ much effort to make an account, as I'm sure you're aware. If I were you, I'd just make one. Lol.**

**Guest: Well, here's the 2nd chapter. I'm open to feedback.**

**NOOOOO: I'm sure you'll be happy to find out I decided to continue this story.**

**revan193: I PM'ed you an answer to the question you asked; otherwise, kind of like Lone Gundam's concern, I don't think I'll be addressing that too much directly in the story itself. Hope my explanation was satisfactory.**

**Kaldi97: Thanks for your continued support.**

* * *

**Chapter 2: A Future For The Krogan**

Jim Raynor didn't know what to think. He'd always known the galaxy was a big and unpredictable place, but he never expected that such an integrated galactic civilization existed so relatively close by. It had taken more than ten days of continuous warp jumps to reach this...Tuchanka, but in the grand scheme of things, that wasn't all too far.

Aboard the _Hyperion_ were his loyal raiders and Richard's 151st regiment, men and women who could be trusted to get the job done no matter how hard things turned out to be. It looked like they were about to be involved in a foreign war, and the units Raynor had with him were veterans of the toughest battles against zerg, protoss, and terran enemies.

He and Matt had already picked up the troops Richard told them to, and they'd brought the _Hyperion_ alongside the frigate called the _Normandy_. If Richard needed backup, all he needed to do was ask, and Raynor would drop some of the K-sector's finest on whichever sorry fools had kicked the hornet's nest. After experiencing total war for the greater part of a decade, nobody in Koprulu took threats lightly. Call if overreaction if you'd like, but the militaries of the sector called it _pragmatism_. They couldn't afford to misjudge or underestimate their enemies after losing billions of friends and family in nearly seven years of destructive war.

"Jim, this is Crimson Dragon. Over." _Richard_. _I was wondering when he'd call._

"I'm here. What's up?"

"Have a full platoon of my men assemble at these coordinates, please." Raynor's datapad beeped. "How about...Squads A through E from Fifth Company?"

"Sure thing, Rich. I'll send them down. What's the occasion?"

"There's going to be a gathering of krogan at a sacred gathering place called the Hollows. Commander Shepard and Urdnot Wrex will be bringing Dr. Mordin Solus and a fertile krogan female designated 'Eve' to an old salarian structure called the shroud to disperse the cure for the Genophage...you read the documents I sent you?"

"About the bad blood between the lizards, frogs, and the birds? Yeah, I did. I have to say, if I were the lizards, I'd be going berserk at this point too. That genophage is just...messed up."

"Can't say anything against that...Just saying, Jim, but you're going to have to learn to pronounce their actual names. You'll cause an intergalactic diplomatic incident if you going around calling them by those nicknames."

"Nah, I'll just let you and Valerian do all the talking."

"I'm sure...Anyhow, Valerian's insisting that we help the krogan out. Since the genophage cure is such a big deal, he's hoping we'll win ourselves a couple allies amongst the krogan. He's saying he has to help them _personally_, so there's no way I'm letting him go down there _alone. _I'm taking five squads to start out, but have everybody else on standby. Considering there's a Reaper destroyer guarding the shroud, we might need more men."

"That's the part of the plan I'm _not _getting. Couldn't you just have me and Matt bring the _Hyperion_ down there and Yamato the damn Reaper?"

"Too risky. A Yamato would do the trick, but what if the Reaper hit _you _first? The beam is powerful enough that it could cut at least moderately damage the _Hyperion_, and we need the ship at full capacity. No, better for you to stay up there and keep an eye out for possible Reaper reinforcements."

"All right. All right. I get it. That's a no go. Don't need to beat the point to death, Rich."

"Just making sure we're clear. How're things back home?"

"Well, as soon as we all heard you boys disappeared, people started blaming Sarah. We were slated to check on a protoss reconnaissance fleet that was just outside citadel space anyways. I didn't know that citadel space existed at the time, of course. Then we found out an observer saw you guys on Tuchanka, so we hightailed it over here as fast as we could.

"It was really intense for a while. The entire Dominion Navy mobilized, and the militias everywhere were armoring up. The golden armada was on high-alert. Six or seven zerg broods appeared near the Sara system. Now that we know the real reason for your dissapearance, the division commanders are jumping over each other trying to secure a spot in the joint expeditionary fleet. Guess who's going to be leading the whole force?"

"Don't tell me...High Executor Selendis?" Richard hazarded.

"Bullseye. The Security Council figured that they needed to balance out our liberalism with some 'disciplined conservatism.' Go figure."

"Well Jim, I'd better stop taking up your time. I'll keep you updated." The comm-link cut off. Raynor smirked. _Give 'em hell, Rich_.

Matt spoke up from his position near the holotable. "Seriously, Jim. The _Normandy_'s pilot? Jeff Moreau? He's a wisecrack, but from what I've read, he very well could be the best starship pilot in the Alliance Navy. I'm already liking the guy."

The _Hyperion's _Captain shook his head slightly. "Same thing goes for John Alan Shepard. Supposedly, he knows the most about the Reapers, and more and more people around citadel space are calling him the 'galaxy's hero.' Reminds me of you, sir. Richard's one lucky guy. How did he just _happen_ to befriend all of the most important people?"

"Like you said, Matt. He's the luckiest out of all of us. Let's just hope his luck holds. These Reapers might be the toughest enemies we'll ever face. They've got numerical superiority, technology that in some areas surpasses the _protoss_. More experience in killing things and winning campaigns than everyone in Koprulu _combined_...We got our work cut out for us, Matt."

"That we do." Matt conceded. "On the bright side, we'll also have a lot more allies this time around. We've done the impossible before. There's no reason we can't do it now."

"Yeah, sir." Navigator Marcus Cade chimed in. "Remember on Char? 'Some things are just worth fighting for?' We're fighting to stop these squids from slaughtering billions of innocents. I'd say that's something to die for. We're with you 100%, commander."

Raynor nodded, touched by the unwavering loyalty his men expressed through thick and thin. "You're right, Cade. Let's show these bad guys how _real_ wars are fought."

* * *

Commander John Shepard looked up from the War Room holotable. Wrex, Primarch Victus, Mordin, Richard, and Valerian were gathered around it for a last-minute briefing.

"New form of Reaper, Shepard. Using Shroud to poison Tuchanka's atmosphere. Problematic." Mordin observed.

"They want a fight, they just got one!" Wrex declared.

"Primarch, we'll need your help." Shepard prompted.

"That could be difficult. Our losses on Palaven have been catastrophic."

"We're doing this _for _Palaven. No one said it would be easy." Shepard reminded him.

"What do you have in mind?" Victus asked grudgingly.

"A combined attack. Your people hit the Reaper with an airstrike. Wrex, at the same time, your soldiers will be attacking from the ground. Together, you can draw it away from the tower."

"Yes." Mordin approved. "Distraction. Small team can reach Shroud facility. Finish synthesizing cure. Will need Eve to come with us."

"With your permission," Valerian added. "I can have a mechanized contingent from General Lee's regiment join the Krogan ground force and a squadron of viking fighters assist the turian air offensive. Our available forces are currently limited to the troops and equipment that can fit inside the _Hyperion_, so we can't spare too many of them."

"Thank you, Emperor." Victus said. "I'll take whatever help I can get."

"Think your men will be able to keep up with us?" Wrex inquired skeptically.

"They can keep up with the protoss." I stated. "No reason why they can't keep up with krogan."

Wrex still looked unconvinced. "Huh... We'll see."

Shepard interjected. "We've never faced a Reaper up close like this. Everyone on board?"

"There's even a doubt? Let's move, pyjak. It's time to cure the genophage." Wrex pounded out of the war room, the others following him wordlessly.

I glanced at Valerian. "Sir, I'd really prefer it if you didn't come."

"Never let it be said that the Emperor just sits on his throne idly all day." Valerian insisted.

"Fine. Just keep your head down."

"Your will is my command," Valerian said automatically. _Right_…

* * *

Shepard's team had five members. This time, he was leaving EDI behind, which made sense. Shaun's team had five. My squad consisted of six, including Valerian. I was leaving Tenny on the _Normandy_. I didn't think a jump jet trooper would be optimal for the mission at hand. As you can imagine, he would be kind of out of place in an armored convoy.

Still, add on Mordin, Eve, and Wrex, and that was way too many people for one UT-47 kodiak drop shuttle to carry. Luckily, since the _Normandy_'s Hammerhead had been undergoing retrofits when the Reapers hit Earth, the stealth frigate had _two _kodiaks instead.

Meanwhile, a _Hercules _dropship departed from the _Hyperion_, packed with sixty marines and six armored personnel carriers. All three spacecraft headed in the direction of the hollows.

My team took up the second kodiak, with Tesla in the pilot's seat and Valerian standing at the co-pilot's seat. The rest of us were crammed inside the cargo deck.

"If you asked me ten years ago whether I planned to set foot on the krogan homeworld," I admitted over the general com-link, "I would've called you crazy. Yet, here I am."

"If you asked _me _ten years ago if I expected Richard Lee to be a general in a human military totally separate from the Alliance, I would've called you crazy too." Shaun retorted.

A gravelly Krogan voice interrupted our conversation. "Wrex, it's Wreav. The Reapers are already at the Hollows. Come out with guns blazing!"

_Great_..._the mission already isn't going according to plan…_

"Hang on tight." The _Normandy_'s shuttle pilot and requisitions officer, Steve Cortez, announced. "Tesla, is it? Follow my lead. We're going in. Same with you, _Hercules-one_."

"Copy that, lieutenant." Tesla affirmed.

"Understood. We'll come in last. Over." Will Merrill, an experienced raiders pilot who was currently in charge of the _Hercules_ dropship asserted.

Tesla deftly maneuvered our kodiak, landing next to the one carrying Wrex, Mordin, Eve, and teams Shepard and Kalantari. If you can't tell, my team is "Team Lee." The airlock opened just in time for me to see Wrex blast a stray husk at point-blank range.

"Shepard, I'll sort out what's happening with the other clans. Keep them away from the female!" Wrex barrelled off deeper into the Hollows without looking back.

All around, I could hear husks howling and krogan bellowing. The Reapers were smart. They probably figured out from the number of krogan gathered here that something important was going on and dispatched a force to sabotage our efforts.

Mordin and Eve remained on their kodiak while the other 16 of us scrambled out onto the ground, weapons ready. "Everyone pick your targets and keep an eye on our six. Now move!" Shepard ordered. We advanced as the _Hercules_ settled down.

Dozens of husks swarmed towards our position. I was already firing, picking off husks with single shots from my psi/plasma rifle.

"This is just as bad as Palaven!" Liara concluded.

"Never been there," Tesla answered wryly. "But it doesn't seem that bad to _me_."

"No kidding." Rob agreed. "I'd take these things over zerg any day!"

"No enemy is more formidable than the Reapers." Javik countered.

My mind had been blown when I first discovered that Javik was a _prothean_. However, my fascination with meeting him was tempered by the fact that he was seriously one _arrogant_ SOB. I mean, I understand that he's bitter because his entire species has been wiped out by the reapers. I get that he's the last of his people. Still, it wouldn't hurt to be less hostile to the people he was working with on a daily basis.

"Meh. Reapers are overrated." Rob dismissed. "You guys just sucked even more than they do."

"_Grrrr_…" Javik rumbled irritably.

My team covered the right flank as Shaun's Agency team took the left. Shepard and company held the center, remaining closer to the kodiaks.

I couldn't believe how easy it was to take out husks. "These things aren't worth shooting. Conserve your ammo." My rifle didn't rely on ammo, so I kept firing. Valerian and Rob meleed any husks who I missed. The other three just stood by, watching boredly.

"Wtf? You guys are OP." Nathan decided.

"Yep. Get used to it, Nathan." I advised him. "No one messes with team Lee and lives to tell the tale." _A lot of us husks here, though_.

That's when the six APC's from the _Hercules_ stormed in with tires screeching and roof-mounted double-barreled gauss cannons blazing. Many of the husks were simply run over. The sixty marines inside the APC's dismounted from their respective vehicles, skewering the remaining stragglers at the ends of their neosteel bayonets. With the area soon completely cleared out, they then came smartly to attention.

From the other side, Wrex, Mordin, Eve, and a few krogan escorts entered the center meeting area of the Hollows. Rank upon rank of krogan gathered on the upper levels of what looked like an ancient gallery of some sort. There must have been hundreds of krogan here today.

"They'll sing battle songs about this some day," Wrex cheerfully prophesized. "Reaper blood has finally shed our soil." Approving...howls filled the air. My men looked around with a mixture of awe and apprehension. They'd all been briefed about the krogans'...violent tendencies.

Shaun and my other four old friends glanced at me with sympathetic expressions on their faces.

Shepard crossed over to Wrex. "We have to get to the shroud. The air strike is on its way."

Mordin reassured him. "Female safe, Shepard. Vitals are strong."

"What's a salarian doing here?" It was that krogan on the com earlier... Wreav, I remembered. _He's a traditionalist_, I realized with a deepening sense of foreboding. "Nobody said anything about this!" A platoon of tough-looking krogan, including blood pack, came to a stop behind him.

Mordin seemed unfazed. "Multiple Krogan. Problematic."

"_Not _helping." Shaun hissed disapprovingly. Kayvon facepalmed. Nathan gulped.

"Who are you?" Shepard challenged. _Here we go..._

"Urdnot Wreav...brood-brother to our...illustrious leader." My men tensed instinctively at the word 'brood,' their grips tightening on their Impalers. Wrex's supporters glowered at Wreav.

"Wreav and I share the same mother...and nothing else." _Ooh...burn_.

"For which I'm thankful. I remember what it means to be _true _krogan." A wave of approval emanated from some of the krogan.

_How original. _Tesla commented to the terrans who were there telepathically.

Doug snorted. "You mean blood-thirsty murderers that the citadel races saw fit to sterilize? I don't think you should be so _proud_ of that, big boy."

I winced. _Oh shit_...A roar came up from Wreav's followers and the other traditionalists.

"We flay our enemies alive and drown them in a geyser of their _own _blood. We don't invite them into our _home_." Wreav pronounced, glaring at Doug. The young marine returned the big krogan's gaze unflinchingly. My confidence in him went up by a few notches.

"The salarian is not your enemy." Shepard disclosed, obviously in an attempt to salvage the deteriorating situation before it came to blows. "He's here to cure the genophage."

"His kind gave us the genophage. Why should we trust him?" _What a dumbass_...

Before anyone could respond to that, Wrex _headbutted_ Wreav. My platoon of marines laughed openly. A few of them clapped. "Whoo! Do it again!" One shouted enthusiastically.

"Because I do," Wrex calmly attested. "And so will you, Wreav."

_Why do I think he's not going to get the message_?

Wreav and his followers bellowed in anger. Shotguns unfolded in their arms. Wrex took a menacing step towards his brother. Blue targeting lasers from sixty gauss rifles homed in on the traditionalists. My marines were ready to bring on the thunder at my command.

"Enough!" A clearly female voice cut through the air. Everyone looked up in surprise.

Eve strode down the staircase. "You can stay here and let old wounds fester as krogan have _always _done…" Unseen, I raised an eyebrow. _There's an epic speech coming_ _up._

Eve brushed past Wreav and Wrex, mounting the stairs to the central platform of the Hollows.

"Or you can fight the enemy you were born to destroy-and win a new future for our children…"

_Damn…_ "_**I **__choose to _fight. Who will join me?"

Shepard stepped between Wreav and Wrex. "I will."

"And so will I." Wrex said.

Apparently, this wasn't enough for Wreav. "Ha, a delusional old fool and a _human_? This is pathetic! Will we let such _weaklings_ tell _krogan_ what to do?"

What happened next caught me completely off guard. "I am Valerian Mengsk, _Emperor _of twenty billion. _I _choose to fight, and I don't consider myself weak."

"My name is Shaun Kalantari, lead operative of the CIA Special Activities Division, humanity's most elite circle of Special Forces operatives. I've never failed a mission."

"Garrus Vakarian..._Archangel _of Omega. Ask your Blood Pack buddies what happens when someone decides to mess with me…"

"I'm Robert Agnarsson, sergeant major of the 151st Regiment, the Dominion's best. Call us 'pathetic' again, and see what we have for you. They don't call us Freedom's Fist for no reason, and it looks like you could use the lesson in manners and respect."

I drew my sword, casually laying the blade against my shoulder. "I'm Richard Lee, Robert's commanding officer, a friend to Shepard and Kalantari, a member of three militaries, and a veteran of the Skyllian Blitz and the two Great Wars. I have friends in high places, so the full might of the Koprulu sector stands at my back. If you oppose me, you oppose the _entire _sector."

An especially well-built krogan stepped out of the crowd. I recognized the armor of the Aralakh Company commandos. "I AM URDNOT GRUNT! Son to Warlord Okeer, captain of Aralakh Company, and pure krogan! I will beat down anyone who stands in my way or in the way of the Overlord and my battlemaster!" _Not bad..._

Above us, krogan thumped their fists to their chests. _Fight_, they chanted. _Fight for Tuchanka_.

"Wreav, your people have spoken…" Wrex turned his back on his brother, ambling forward. "Now hold all of your heads high like _true _Krogan!" He pointed in the direction of the shroud. "There's a _Reaper_ that needs killing!"

A deafening roar echoed across the Hollows. Wreav nodded reluctantly. My men, team Kalantari, and I piled into our APCs, the krogan and team Shepard boarding Tomkahs. The sizable convoy sped off, down an ancient krogan roadway. Overhead, I knew the turian fighters were getting steadily closer to the Reaper Destroyer's position. The battle was on.

"Krogan ground convoy, this is turian wing Artimec. Our approach vector to the Shroud is locked." A turian pilot notified us. "We're ten minutes out and counting."

"Copy that Artimec." Shepard acknowledged. "We're on our way, trying to make up for lost time. Shepard out." _The turians were on schedule. Hope _we _make it on time. _

I took the chance to converse to my squad. "Thoughts so far?"

"The lady's speech was pretty epic." Rob noted. "But I have to say, that Wreav dude is one damned idiot. I hope that Reaper we're attacking steps on him or something."

"Couldn't agree more. Just _seeing _the guy ruins my day," said Doug.

I turned to stare at the inexperienced marine. "That reminds me; I don't whether I'm supposed to praise you for standing up to a krogan like that or berate you for being so _stupid_." I glared at him to emphasize my point "You do realize...if Eve hadn't intervened when she did, there would have been a civil war, _right_? And we would've been caught smack-dab in the middle of it?"

Douglas stammered. "Uh...I- I didn't...think-"

"I _know _you didn't. But I'm proud of you, kid. If I had been in your situation ten years ago, I'd probably be too scared to even make a sound. Good job out there. Just use your brain more often before you speak. Every intelligent animal has one for a reason. Understood, private?"

"Yes sir." Doug replied proudly, sitting with his back a bit straighter than it had been before.

"Good. I don't want to have this conversation again."

"We're decelerating," Robert observed. "Something's up." Sure enough, our APC rolled to a halt a few moments later. Outside, I could hear dozens of other vehicles following suit.

"Shepard?" I questioned. "Is there a problem?"

"I'm trying to figure that out right now. One second." I heard John ask a question and a krogan answer resignedly. "Damn it, the road's out...Turian wing Artimec. This is Shepard. We've been delayed-hold off your attack."

"Negative, commander. Our approach is locked. The Reaper already knows we're here!" I heard the whining of engines as turian wing Artimec, likely accompanied by eight vikings, soared overhead. Before long, they were already beginning to strafe the Reaper. There was no way they'd be able to drive off the 160-meter tall behemoth without ground support. We had to get there soon, whether the road was traversable or not.

"I've lost control...I can't pull up!" A turian pilot shouted. _Oh no..._

A crash followed by an explosion rocked our APC.

Shepard yelled on the general com-link, "Wrex, get the female out of here _now_!"

"Driver! Open the ramp. I'm bailing out. Tell the others my orders are to follow and protect both the Emperor and Urdnot Wrex's tomkah! That's our current priority." I barked.

I leapt out the vehicle. "Tesla, Rob, with me. Anna, Doug, stay with Valerian. Keep him safe." I waved to the three of them as the ramp closed.

I noticed Shaun, Nathan, and Minsu already standing outside their respective APCs. The tomkahs coughed into reverse, speeding away from the Reaper. My APC's covered the rear, taking potshots at the reaper destroyer even though they were way out of range.

"What about Kayvon and Eiad?" I asked.

"Agency command called in." Shaun explained. "They want the two of them for another mission...Something about Omega. I don't like the sound of it personally, but it's their mission, so the Director didn't tell me much. They'll need transportation, and I don't think the krogan have any starships ready. Can they hitch a ride on one of your dropships?"

I nodded. "Crimson Dragon to _Hyperion _Actual. Over."

"_Hyperion _Actual." Matt was as unruffled as always.

"Requesting shuttle pick-up for agency operatives Heravi and Nasser."

"Your two friends? Copy that. Sending down a dropship for extraction. Have them stand by."

"Appreciate it, Actual. Crimson Dragon out."

"Thanks, Richard." Shaun said gratefully. "Come on, let's catch up to team Shepard. They're heading to that...tunnel over there."

The six of us sprinted to the tunnel entrance. Shepard was waiting for us, with Vega, Javik, Liara, and Garrus. Shepard saluted. "Nice to have all of you. Come on, we have to find another way to the shroud!" Without waiting for a response, he clambered into the tunnel. _Heh_,_ talk about leading by example..._

"Wrex, are you reading this? Is everyone okay?" Shepard demanded.

"Yeah, just a few scratches. Nothing the salarian can't patch up. Wreav's truck made it out too." Wrex sounded like he was discussing the weather. For the krogan, this type of situation was probably all too common. Plus, Wrex was just as old as some protoss high templar were.

There was a collective groan on the comm from my platoon. Wrex chuckled. "By the way, Lee. I like your men. They'd make great krogan. Guess I was wrong about them earlier."

Eve's voice filtered through. "I still haven't thanked you yet, General. This isn't your war. You didn't have to choose to help us. The krogan will remember your actions today."

"Thanks, but I beg to differ, ma'am. The Reapers overran Earth. Although I haven't been there for ten years, it's still my home, just as Tuchanka is still yours despite being a nuked-out, barren wasteland. All the same, I'm honored to help. I never agreed with the genophage in the first place. Once this is over, I think you can count the Terran Dominion as the Krogan's first official ally. I'm sure Valerian would love to discuss the details with you."

"_That_ should show those turians," Wrex muttered in amusement.

"And the salarians," Shaun supplemented with a grin. "Can't forget the frogs."

"Comparison woefully inadequate." Mordin said. "Salarians and frogs both amphibians. True observation. However, salarian metabolisms much faster. Also, sentient species. Different from frogs. Size difference significant as well. "

"Don't worry Dr. Solus," Valerian put in. "I don't think Lead Operative Kalantari is referring to _you _specifically."

Mordin ignored him, continuing, "Still, concur with expressed opinion. Genophage must be cured. Costs outweigh benefits. Moral issues to consider."

"Agreed." Wrex finished grimly. "Get moving, Shepard."

The eleven of us moved deeper in. Rob and I took point, activating our suit chest projectors. The others joined us, activating their omni-tool flashlights. Tesla had acquired an omni-tool from the _Normandy_'s armory, which she implemented skillfully. The tunnel shuddered suddenly.

"What was that?" Liara sounded startled.

"Felt like a tremor," Garrus whispered back.

"Earthquake?" Vega guessed.

"Maybe. Seemed too small to be an earthquake, though." Shaun pointed out.

"I second that. Shaun, Minsu, Richard, and I grew up in California. Earthquake central. Right along the San Andreas fault. We know what we're talking about, people." Nathan boasted. _Heh._

"Great. We're the _earthquake _experts. I'm _so _impressed." Minsu groused.

"Well, if it's _not _an earthquake, then what could it be?" Tesla wondered.

"That's the million-credit question." Rob remarked. _Million __dollar_ _question._

"We'll have to abort, Commander." The turian wing leader interrupted our conversation to announce. "The Reaper's tearing us to pieces."

"Affirmative, Artimec. Save your pilots!" John commanded. He contacted the ground convoy again. "Wrex, the turians had to call off the airstrike. They were taking too many casualties. We'll need a new plan for dealing with the Reaper."

"First we'll have to find you. Where did you end up?"

"Underground. We see ruins of some kind."

"Commander, that's the city of the ancients." Eve informed us. _Dang...I bet Valerian would have loved it here. The krogan were pretty skilled architects. This place reminds me of some of the great civilizations from ancient times. Guess the krogan weren't always warlike barbarians._

"How do we get out?" Shepard inquired more practically.

Eve's response was concise, to the point, and kind of troubling. "No maps exist. It's been abandoned for thousands of years." _I hope the krogan who designed the city didn't decide to include a maze somewhere. Otherwise, we're screwed. _

"You're a trailblazer, Shepard." Wrex seemed entertained by our dilemma. "Get through there and we'll find a place to meet up. Nothing will stop this cure." _Were it so easy_, _Wrex…_

The city of the ancients shook again, longer and much more intense this time.

"There it is again," Garrus stated the obvious. "That didn't feel like a tremor to me…"

"Yeah…I don't think earthquakes are supposed to be this close in succession. We shouldn't be able to even feel a majority of the aftershocks, generally speaking." I recalled. "Someone should check if the others are feeling these tremors above the surface, just in case...Now that I think about it, I remember reading that...what are they called? Oh yeah, thresher maws. Thresher maws live underground...And Wikipedia said Tuchanka has a _lot _of thresher maws, so…"

"Wrex, are you guys feeling these tremors?" Shepard followed my advice. Shaun glanced at me oddly, undoubtedly wondering why I was quoting Wikipedia as evidence.

"Not up here." Came the reply. _Oh god...paranoid streak activated…_

"It could be something else, Commander." _Uh-oh._ "It is said that Kalros, the mother of all thresher maws, lives in this region." _Called it_..._this is not good. _

"Which is another reason to get your ass out of there, Shepard! Step on it!" _Gee, thanks Wrex._

"Did I hear that right?" Liara fearfully queried. "Kalros, the mother of all thresher maws?"

"When the krogan name a thresher maw, you know you're in trouble." Garrus noted wisely. "They don't think anyone's ever going to kill it."

"And if the krogan are openly admitting that they can't kill something…" Shaun began knowingly, the dread in his voice evident.

"Then it basically means that if we run into Kalros, we're going to be very, very _dead_." Minsu's tone was bleak. "Here's hoping that Kalros doesn't eat us."

"Or step on us." Nathan added. "If it's the 'mother' of all thresher maws, then it must be _really_ big. I say we get the heck out of here as soon as possible."

"Okay, I don't get it. What's a thresher maw?" Robert quizzed. "And what's so fekking scary about them? Are they like ultralisks on terrazine or something?"

"Worse, from what I've read." I told him. "I've only read a wikipedia page and a few news articles about them, so my knowledge of them isn't exactly thorough. Somebody want to explain for me?"

"Basically," John began. "You can just think of a thresher maw as a giant, 100-foot long worm, with 200 more feet below the surface. They're solitary, subterranean carnivores. Territorial too...so to a maw, all of us added together would probably just be a midnight snack. On top of that, they spit green acid at you when they get pissed off. Unless you want to get melted, the idea is to _avoid_ the acid. Oh, and they have giant claws, too. They're very slow-moving above ground, but they're crazy fast underground. Kinetic barriers don't exactly help against thresher maws, and they can take a ridiculous amount of fire before they die. Garrus, Tali, Wrex, Liara, and I ran into a thresher maw once three years ago with Ashley Williams and the late Kaiden Alenko. I'm speaking from personal experience, here."

"And due to Shepard's terrible driving, we almost died that day." Garrus chided. "I'm _so _glad the _Normandy _doesn't have Makos or Hammerheads onboard anymore. I don't think I could survive another couple of months of Shepard's suicidal chauffeuring."

"Shut up, Garrus." John cuffed him playfully. "Don't you _dare _criticize me. The only reason we beat that maw is because it was charmed by my _natural _handling of the Mako, and you know it."

"Hm…" Javik sounded thoughtful rather than spiteful. "The creatures you call thresher maws...were smaller, in my cycle. They were small enough that one could ride them. I wonder what drove their evolution and made them so tall…"_ That was Javik for you. Addicted to trolling people and 'evolution.'_

Rob paused in mid-stride. "Erm...General, what the hell is _that_?" I stopped and followed his gaze. An insectoid creature with bulbous orange sacs was lying on its side. The bluish glow on its legs and 'head' indicated that it was a Reaper creation.

"More rachni," Garrus said in a hushed voice. _Rachni? _Minsu shook his head. "Shit. Some of them _did _get off Uttukku after all. Should have known we didn't get all of them."

"Whoa whoa whoa…" I held up a hand. "Slow down..._Rachni? Dafuq?" _

"Yeah...it turns out they aren't extinct." Nathan filled me in. "Three years ago, a facility connected to Cerberus found a Rachni Queen and tried to control it to breed supersoldiers. The Queen's children went psycho and rampaged across the facility. Shepard stopped the rachni and decided to spare the queen. Then just a few days ago, Urdnot Wrex suggested that we investigate the last coordinates of a Krogan team that went dark with Aralakh Company. The Reapers indoctrinated the queen's children and imprisoned her inside the caves of Uttuku to breed an army of ravager husks. These things. We found the queen, and Shepard set her free again. As we speak, free-willed Rachni workers are helping us construct the Crucible."

"The super-weapon thing that supposedly can eradicate the Reapers in one hit?"

"Yeah, that thing. Anyway, if there are Ravagers _here_, that means the Reapers were able to breed more of these things than we first thought. We'd better alert Alliance Command after the mission. Hackett and the Alliance fleets need to hear about this."

"So does Wrex." Shepard realized. "Wrex, we got Rachni here. Keep an eye out. Over."

"I know. A few of them just attacked us." _Lol_. _Talk about great timing. _ "All that matters is getting to that shroud. Find us fast." _Okay, we get it Wrex...you really want to cure the genophage...but you don't have to bring it up every _goddamn sentence!

_Heehee...What ever happened to 'patience is a virtue?'_ Tesla was clearly enjoying this.

_You know what? Just...just...leave. I don't have the time for this...Oh look, there's the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel! _

"Finally…" Liara breathed a sigh of relief. "Light ahead." _Wait...I was just...joking..._

"Aww...afraid of the dark?" Rob joked. "Don't be. I'm here. The Commander can protect you, too." Sure enough, there was light ahead.

"In my younger days, I would have loved to have spent time here, studying these ruins." Liara said wistfully, not bothering to dignify Rob's jab with a response. Rob looked disappointed.

"Makes you wonder what the krogan might have done if they hadn't blown up the planet." Garrus admitted philosophically.

We emerged onto a raised platform of some sort. Moss grew between the cracks of stone tiles, and pieces of the platform had fallen out with time. The entire cityscape was run-down, but it was oddly...inspiring as well. It made me aware of how lucky we were that the U.S. and USSR hadn't fought a nuclear war back in the 20th century. Otherwise, we could have eventually been used and discarded just like the krogan were. It was a sobering thought.

"Wrex. We made it back outside." Shepard reported.

"Well, if you can see sunlight, that's progress." Wrex confirmed. _Always the optimist, aren't you Wrex? *sigh*_

"And the color green…" Liara observed in wonder. "I thought plants were extinct around here."

"You're looking at hope." Eve educated us. "All that's left of it on Tuchanka. This was once a world full of beauty. Given a chance, it can be again."

Robert said fervently. "Ma'am, I'll do my best to make it happen. So will the rest of us. I ain't letting one more planet go down like Tarsonis."

"Shepard, the Reaper's still up to no good at the shroud." _Oh...my...GOD…_"Find a way out of there, and we'll pick you up." _How about you just SHUT UP?! You think I _like _almost getting lost in dark, potentially monster-infested tunnels? CUZ_ _I DON'T! _

_Think calm thoughts, sir. _Tesla suggested.

"We're on it." Shepard assured him tersely, finally starting to show some of my impatience. _Have to admit, Shepard has a cool head_.

"Dealing with the reaper when we get there will be another matter." Liara muttered. "Maybe Eve is right. Curing the genophage might lead to a krogan renaissance."

"Seeing all this does make you wonder…" Garrus was more subdued.

"Well, bird-brains, they _did _build all of _this_." Robert observed. "And Wrex and Eve do seem genuinely devoted to keeping the peace. All we can do is hope, in the end."

We passed by a building with ornate carvings decorating the side of it. Rob stepped out into the open. "Ahead! We've got movement!" Garrus warned loudly.

Robert drew back behind the wall just as three rapid explosions detonated nearby, sending tiles flying and blasting a hole in the corner of the building. The veteran sergeant major swore. "What the hell? Since when did the Reapers have light artillery units?"

"The mutated rachni we saw earlier?" Garrus brought up. "That's them. The Ravagers are the husks' artillery units. Look over there. You see those blue targeting lasers? Kind of similar to the ones on your rifles, huh? That's how you can tell if there are ravagers nearby."

"Thanks for the 101 course." Rob said. "And the warning. What's our plan of action?"

Incoming fire sparkled on our armor and the others' kinetic barriers. There were a few chittering growls. "Cannibals!" That was Minsu.

I remembered the file I'd read on them. "Mobile artillery and infantry support. Classic combined arms attack. I'd say we should scatter, take cover and start shooting. Sound fair?"

"Fair!" Shepard yelled. "Get to it!" As one, the eleven of us broke out from behind the cover of the building. Explosions and rounds impacted all around us. More than a few of us stumbled and lost our footing a few times. Tesla's C-20A came to life, and two of the cannibals gargled. _Nice shooting_. I blind-fired my plasma rifle at one of the ravagers as I ran, ducking behind a wall parapet-stone. I didn't actually hit anything, of course. I heard a cry of pain, swiveling in time to see Nathan collapse. His barriers had likely been downed by the concussion from the ravager shots, and then a burst from a cannibal's arm-cannon probably pierced through his armor.

_Great_…Diving over to him, I picked him up, set him down behind the parapet, threw him some medi-gel, and then scurried over to a low wall. Crouching, I laid down suppressing fire on a ravager. I was so focused on that I didn't see another ravager back up so that it was standing directly in front of my position.

"Sir!" Tesla was just as alert and vigilant as always. "Get out of there!" I saw the ravager start to pivot itself around to face me. If it did, even my tank-like armor and energy shields wouldn't save me from three point-blank artillery shots.

_Oh crap_… In desperation, I put away my plasma rifle and unsheathed my power sword. Leaping forward, I hacked my blade down onto one of the ravager's orange sacs. My blow chopped through the sac and sliced deeply into a second. The ravager shrieked in pain. I body-slammed the ravager while it was off-balance, and it teetered onto its side. Triumphantly, I drew my sword back over my head and plunged it deep into the huskified creature. _Victory_…

In what I otherwise would have thought was a stupid decision, I charged forward, dispatching a cannibal with a quick stroke and leaping over a low wall to decapitate another one. Two more of the batarian-husks fired at me. My shields dropped about 5%, and then I was in close. I hammered a few blows into one of them. Grabbing the other cannibal with one hand, I rammed my helmet into it, bashed it with my sword-hilt, and then kicked it aside. A burst from Rob's C-14 finished it off, but I was already running towards the second Ravager.

I could hear just about everybody else shouting that I was crazy or that I was in their line of fire. What did I care? I never liked long-distance firefights...side effect of serving alongside protoss zealots for so long, perhaps...The ravager's targeting lasers homed in on me. I rolled to the side as three explosions hit where I'd been just a second ago. My shields went down to 70%. I waited until the ravager homed in on me again, and then I went back to where I'd originally been. After that, it was a short sprint to the the wall the ravager was hiding behind.

I pulled a concussion grenade out and lobbed it over the wall. Since concussion grenades were specialized to pierce zerg _roach_ carapaces, this ravager didn't stand a chance. I heard an explosion followed by a _splat_. Peering over the wall, I grinned at my own handiwork. "Okay people...besides one or two cannibals I may have missed, this area's secure. You may now all take a moment to thank me for all my hard work."

"Goddess…" Liara uttered in amazement.

"Spirits," was Garrus's only comment.

"Richard. OP." Nathan chimed in.

"Damn, I wish I could do that!" Minsu exclaimed.

"Crazy commanding officer? Check." Robert said sardonically.

"You know," Tesla regarded me with a mix of amusement and exasperation. "When I said 'get out of there' I didn't mean 'beat it up and then go beserk on the rest of them.' Just saying."

"Is that concern I hear, agent? I'm touched."

"No sir. I was just thinking of all the paperwork I'd have to sign if the General that I was assigned to keep alive got himself killed. It would take _so _long to process, and frankly, you're not worth the effort, _sir_." _WOW..._

John and Shaun stared at me weirdly. "Is he always like this?"

"You'd better believe it." Robert snarked. "Back home, the most powerful being's the zerg Queen of Blades. She's...sane...I guess you could say, now. But a couple years back? She killed so many people that no one's bothered to keep track. She's also the directing consciousness of the zerg swarm. One time, on the umojan colony of Icarus IV, the 151st was cut off. We were just a battalion-size all-infantry unit at the time. The queen-bitch herself came charging at us; we thought we were goners for sure. It was game over. We had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide."

Rob had a distant look on his face, as if he was reliving the experience again. "Out of nowhere, lieutenant colonel motherfrakking _Lee_ comes and starts _sword-fighting _with her! Actually pushed her back a couple of yards! Never seen anything like it...Our glorious CO almost ended up in a body bag at the end of that tussle. In a queer twist of fate, the queen decided to keep us alive because we were 'amusing.' ...The general saved our damn hides on Icarus."

The others were silent for a few moments. Vega whistled. "Holy hell...seeing what he did just now? I can believe that. We're real lucky to have Juggernaut on our side then."

"Juggernaut?" I blinked at the randomness of that statement.

"Yeah. Big red guy who demolishes everything in his path? Juggernaut." Vega said proudly.

"Lieutenant Vega here has a habit of giving everyone he knows nicknames." Shaun explained. "Makes it easier for him to remember everybody, apparently. He calls John 'Loco.' Honestly, from what the sergeant major said, I think you deserve that title."

John nodded earnestly. "I wholeheartedly second that."

Tesla smirked. "I third-"

At that moment, the entire structure we were on shook. A few stones and tiles fell off of the nearby buildings. "Another quake," Liara noticed.

"That _had to be_ Kalros!" Garrus proclaimed.

"Stay sharp!" John ordered. "Let's move. The sooner we get to the convoy, the better."

We all nodded and bounded after him. We arrived at a... bridge. There was a five-foot gap between our side and the other side where the bridge had fallen out in disrepair, but we were all fit. All it took was a simple jump, and we were across.

Garrus and Tesla spoke up at the same time. "It isn't over yet!" "Cannibal fireteam ahead!"

They both gazed at each other in surprise and confusion. Everyone else laughed at their discomfort. _Well, they are the two snipers in our squad, after all. _

"I got this!" I let everyone know, hurrying forward. Four cannibals loosed a volley of projectiles at me, which my shields shrugged off. Without stopping, I swept into them, using four quick sword swipes to incapacitate them. With a flourish, I turned to the others, waving a fist.

Instead of moving in, they all froze for a moment, eyes widening. I heard growls, chittering, and snorting that reminded me of an angry bull. I whirled around in time to see a _massive _creature pondering toward me. It had the head of a turian, but its massive bulk reminded me of a krogan.

It thumped an oversized arm to its chest and then with totally unexpected speed, _smashed _the limb right into my face. My shields _popped_, completely drained by the force of the crushing attack. The heavy blow knocked me headfirst onto my back. The _pain… _I could hear gunfire and at least half-a-dozen voices shouting my name. Rearing up, the hulking abomination raised both of its arms for a final downward slam, claws glistening.

_So this was how it was all going to end?_

* * *

**Yep, cliffhanger. You all probably have an idea of what's going to happen, but a) it's not as obvious as you think, and b)it was a good stopping point, all right?**

**Anyways, that's chapter two for you! As you can probably see by now, most of this story is going to focus on my OC's adventures with Commander Shepard. The terran, protoss, and zerg will be joining the war alongside the Alliance soon, and the **_**Starcraft II **_**canon characters will definitely be getting their screen time and action. And a lot of it. For the most part, however, this story won't be focusing too much on the "big picture."**

**Next chapter: Plan Kalros **

**As always, favorite and follow the story if you like it, and don't hesitate to drop a review or PM me with any feedback you have! See you all next time! **

**-The General**


	3. Chapter 3: Duty and Sacrafice

**Hi everyone,**

**Well, Chapter three is up. I've already begun writing Chapter four. **

**Guest2: I'll take that suggestion into account, but I can't make any promises at this point. **

**SpecH82: The reapers will definitely have a hard time with the zerg later.**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Duty and ****Sacrifice**

Time seemed to slow. The claws started to come down. I scrabbled for my plasma rifle, but I knew there was no way I'd be able to shoot it in time. My life flashed before my eyes. I raised my right arm to shield my face, fully aware of how futile that gesture was against the behemoth standing above me. Nothing could save me now.

All of a sudden, a boulder smacked into the brute's larger arm, shattering into multiple pieces upon impact. In my dizzy state, I didn't get a clear view of it, but it was surely too large for anyone not in CMC armor to have thrown that far. A krogan could have thrown it easily, but we didn't _have _any krogan with us. The brute looked up, roaring a challenge at someone.

A golden blur leaped into the brute, making it stagger unsteadily back a few steps. Flipping backwards, the newcomer evaded the brute's wide return stroke. "_Khassar de templari!"_

I recognized the saying. _From order comes justice. _Khalani, the language of the protoss. To date, I'm probably the only non-protoss person who knows how to speak it and read it. _Templar_ in Khalani meant justice, and only members of the Templar Caste of the Khalai protoss would go around shouting about justice. _But there hadn't been any khalai protoss with us on Vornar II_...

While my mind was still trying to process that, the zealot lunged with one of his two crackling neon-blue psionic blades, deftly spinning to the right. The well-aimed stab bypassed the brute's oversized claw arm and speared the brute through the neck. The zealot skillfully disentangled itself from the hulking organic-synthetic creature, not even bothering to check to make sure the collapsing husk was truly dead.

Then, a large four-fingered hand appeared in front me. "Greetings, brother. It seems I arrived...what is the terran saying? Ah yes... in the 'nick of time.' It is fortunate I did, is it not?" _Good to see you too, old buddy._

"Naoros." I realized. "What are you doing out here?" He pulled me to my feet, nodding slightly. "That is a tale for later. I believe there are more pressing concerns we must address. Securance of krogan entry into your friend Shepard's little alliance, to begin with."

I picked up my power sword from the ground and sheathed it. "Guess you're right." I took in the squad's stunned expressions. "Everyone, meet my brother-in-arms, praetor Naoros of Aiur. Last surviving relative to High Executor Tassadar. You don't know who that is, but I guarantee you _will _by the time the Reapers are defeated."

"Met the praetor before already." Rob deadpanned. "Is there anything special about him I was supposed to take note of? Because he's just one normal dumbass to me."

Naoros stiffened, and I saw Shaun and Nathan shuffle uncomfortably to the side. "How kind of you," Naoros responded in a similar tone, instead of executing Rob as it was thought he would. "I am flattered by your assessment of me." He caught Rob's armored hand in a strong grip. "The months have treated you well, sergeant major Agnarsson." Releasing Rob's hand, he turned to Tesla. "Always a pleasure, agent. I see Brigadier General Lee is still behaving as...unintelligent as he has in the past."

"You have no idea, sir. He decided it was a good idea to turn his back on the enemy in the middle of a firefight, resulting in him being...pounded by that brute over there." Her tone was light but purposefully formal. "After having accumulated so much experience fighting zerg, tal'darim, and several terran factions, it would've been kind of embarrassing to see him go down to that thing. On behalf of the 151st, I thank you for your assistance, praetor. You saved our reputation."

"No need to thank me for doing my duty." Naoros's blazing blue eyes glinted brightly. "You must be Shaun Kalantari." Shaun stared at him in astonishment. "Richard has spoken often of you. Nathan Zhang, Minsu Kim...interesting to see the two of you in person. There are many of Richard's acquaintances who are not here currently, I would surmise."

He paused, peering over at team Shepard. "I do not know any of _you _on a personal basis, nor did my brother. Although it seems you have grown in both rank and maturity since he last met you a decade ago, N7 Lieutenant Commander John Alan Shepard."

"...I would hope so." John answered, covering his awed expression. "Ten years is a long time, after all. I have to ask, though. You know all of our names, but we never told you them. Did you read dossiers about us or something?" _Oh boy, this will be fun_…

"Afraid not." Naoros boomed. "Your answer is telepathy, friend Shepard. All protoss are psionically-gifted at birth, to varying degrees. A...perhaps appropriate comparison would be the asari, who are all born with biotic abilities. Psionic abilities can be more subtle, yet they can be far more destructive at the same time. The defining characteristic of psionics is mind-reading. Thus, despite this being only our first meeting, I am familiar with your basic information."

"Wait...so you're like...a psychic?"

"Indeed. Lieutenant James Vega. I would advise you to accept the nomination into the N7 program, as pointless as it may seem under the circumstances."

"Holy hell...you _really are _a psychic." Vega muttered in shock. "I don't know if I should be amazed or just plain creeped out…"

"A logical reaction would be _both_, friend Vega. I would not expect any being to adapt to these circumstances so quickly."

Javik snorted. "No matter who you are, you cannot measure up to a prothean. If the reapers had attacked _you, _50,000 years ago, you would have been casually annihilated by them."

"Fifty-thousand years ago, we were nomadic tribesmen who hunted Bengalaas and other animals for shelter with stone spears. First of all, I do not think the Reapers would have been interested in us, and secondly, I would _hope that _they are able to best cavemen. Otherwise, that would reflect rather badly on your Empire, would it not Prothean?"

Before Javik could give one of his scathing rebukes, another quake shook the ground. Naoros cocked his head to one side quizzically. "Is tectonic activity truly _this _common here on Tuchanka? I recall no mention of it in the Templar Archives…"

"What? Templar archives? Protoss have been to citadel space before?" I demanded. "Why didn't anybody ever tell me about this?"

"You have learned about the tenets of the Dae'Uhl. The reasoning is clear and well-thought. It is not the duty of the firstborn to meddle in the affairs of aliens. As friend Raynor once said, 'we are who we choose to be.' All species deserve such a chance, no matter how primitive they seem. Evidently, that opinion is not shared by the salarians of Sur'kesh. Our forefathers would be disgusted if they witnessed how they uplifted and subsequently betrayed the krogan."

"To answer your question," John said. "We don't think it's an earthquake. We think it's a thresher maw. Kalros, to be exact. The biggest and baddest of them all." He contacted the convoy. "Wrex, you're right about Kalros. She's on the move!"

"Yeah, we've got some ideas on that-" Wrex stopped for a fraction of a second, as if someone had interrupted him in mid-sentence. "-What?"

"Not now, Wrex. The commander has enough to worry about." Eve admonished the overlord of Tuchanka sternly.

"What's happening?" John inquired, curious.

"It's just some crazy idea we can talk about later. Just worry about getting out of there right now." Wrex amended.

"Well, you heard the man." John prompted us. "Naoros, was it? Welcome to the team. Nice handling of that brute. Richard, you outrank me, I know, but just a _suggestion_: don't be so stupid next time around, all right? We don't want to lose anyone."

"Bad decision, commander. Now, he will be determined to do all he can to prove you wrong. If anything, you may have just made his impatience even worse." Naoros told him. "In any case, if you are all as formidable as your reputations suggest, then I think I shall enjoy this."

"Let's just hope that brute knocked some sense into him," Shaun dismissed Naoros's remark. "Now come on, we have a krogan convoy to catch up with, and a millennia-long genophage to get rid of. The galaxy isn't going to save itself!" That said, John and Shaun ran, the rest of our 12-man squad sticking closely behind.

We turned around a corner, and more cannibals intercepted us, firing. Naoros waved a hand, sending a pile of rocks flying at them. A few of the others opened fire, making short work of the distracted batarian husks. "Another shooting gallery," Garrus wisecracked. A horde of husks flooded past the fallen squad of cannibals. "Damn it…"

Wrex's voice crackled again. "Shepard, looks like we've got a bridge up ahead. Try to find it, and we'll pick you up there." _Thanks, but I don't think saying 'We're at a bridge. Get over here.' helps us very much_.

Naoros and Tesla exchanged amused glances. "Sir, did anyone ever tell you that you're just about the most cynical guy in the entire universe?" The shadowguard asked. "Because you are."

I ignored that comment. "Wrex!" Shepard shouted. "We're a little preoccupied here!" Oh right, the husks..._Hey Naoros, you up for some stupidity? _

"I didn't say it would be easy!" Wrex protested, deliberately using the same tone that John had with primarch Victus during our little War Room meeting. The reference was lost on everyone else there, of course.

_I suppose. What do you have in mind?_ I drew my power sword. Naoros immediately understood. As one, we hurtled forward, advancing into the mass of husks. I hammered them with my left arm or slashed them as they came at me. Naoros? He simply spinned and lunged with all the alacrity of a ninja. It's kind of weird, actually. Zealots are as well-armed and armored as heavy infantry, like knights, but their speed is still crazily fast. I honestly still don't know how they do it, even after serving with them on so many campaigns and learning to fight like them for years.

_It is called, talent, brother. A foreign term to you, I am sure. _Oh yeah, don't forget the dry humor protoss just love throwing out there. Or maybe it was just Naoros. Compared to most protoss, he was a lot more forthcoming and laid-back. The others...Selendis, especially? They were so hard-core that they made marine drill instructors at boot camp seem like shy kindergartners.

"Ravagers!" Minsu warned. Naoros and I threw ourselves to the ground as artillery shots flew past us, detonating on the ancient krogan architecture all about us. "Don't just stand there and shout! Take them out!" I roared. _Whoa...that rhymed._ I rolled to cover, discharging plasma bolts at the armored rachni husks. I could hear gunfire. Someone, Nathan I think, dispelled a plasma round from their omni-tool, and I think Vega unleashed a concussive shot. Liara and Javik expertly choreographed a biotic explosion that sent two of the ravagers flying.

Noticing that there was only one ravager left, Naoros _charged_, turning his body into pure energy and appearing a microsecond later in _front _of the final ravager. Forming an x-shape with his psionic blades, he swept them outwards, and the two crackling blades decimated the enemy. He then swiftly performed a flying leap into a cannibal, kicking it down before swiveling to gash another one. A volley of mass accelerator, C-14, C-20A, and plasma fire later, the remaining husks and cannibals were gunned down mercilessly.

"I'm really starting to hate this place!" Garrus called out.

"You and me both, bro." Robert agreed. "You and me both."

"Hey, mark those statues over there." Nathan pointed out. "They kind of resemble the ones the Greeks or Romans used to make. They've got round shields and everything."

"For Sparta!" Shaun bellowed. Minsu laughed out loud and joined in his mad dash to the statues. "Hey, heads up, I think this is the bridge!" Shaun notified us. "Come on, I think I just saw the convoy!" We warily joined them, minding both directions to ensure there wasn't any reaper or harvester or something waiting patiently to ambush us.

"Shepard, we're coming under the bridge! Get down here and we can get to the shroud. Wait...Kalros!" A slithering _movement _rippled through the ground, and a massive… _body _emerged out of nowhere. The APC's and tomkahs screeched into reverse to avoid being crushed by the gigantic thresher maw. _Holy crap..._

"Wrex!" Shepard yelled. A _growl._ Kalros plunged _through_ the bridge, carving a hole through the middle in its angry rush towards the convoy. One of the APC's lingered behind, firing futilely at the maw. I grimaced as the full momentum of Kalros slammed into the vehicle. The APC, with twelve brave marines inside of it, flipped over more than a dozen times, finally coming to a shuddering stop. Fumes arose from the battered personnel carrier, and when I used my HUD to check on squad 5-C's bio-signs, I was greeted by twelve flatlining charts. _Damn it._

"Kalros' territorial instinct confirmed!" Mordin stated the obvious. I barely heard the salarian scientist in my spasm of rage. The 151st Regiment's infantry contingent consisted of a battalion- 10 companies of 10 ten-man squads. There were two more similar 1200-man infantry battalions in the 151st now, but they were far less experienced. In one go, Kalros had just killed a full _one percent _of my _best _marines, some of the Dominion's finest soldiers. _Friends. _I fired blindly at the thresher maw, not caring that it was a complete waste of effort. My rifle didn't need to rely on ammunition anyways, right? So what the hell did I care?

"It's not going to get us!" Wrex announced. _It already did_, I felt like retorting, but I kept my mouth shut. As much as I hated his blase attitude, I knew that it wasn't his fault. To an extent, it wasn't even Kalros' fault. It was the goddamn _Reapers' _fault. Another reason to add to the list. I could hope that this wouldn't happen again, but I knew the truth. Five-Charlie's twelve men and women would only be the first among many to fall in this apocalyptic war.

Naoros put a hand on my shoulder. "They were good men. Avenge them rather than blame yourself." He encouraged me. Kalros half-submerged again, intent on outrunning the convoy.

"You go on ahead, Shepard! We'll try to shake this thing and find you." Wrex ordered us.

We obliged, heading into a building that resembled a temple, more of the greco-krogan statues standing silently around us. If we weren't lost before, we were certainly clueless now.

"Thresher maw getting closer!" Mordin yelped.

"Tell me something I don't know!" Wrex snarled. I could see the massive figure of the maw's back trailing only a few yards behind the group of ground vehicles.

"Metal in truck excellent iron supplement for maw's diet!" At _that_, despite myself, I had to grin. I'd only spoken to Dr. Solus a few times, but I liked the scientist. I could see why John, Liara, and Garrus trusted him. He was one _unique _STG operative. Even Shaun had to admit that, and that was an achievement, considering CIA people generally detested the special tasks group.

"I wonder where we are now?" Liara unintentionally echoed my thoughts, and probably the thoughts of all twelve of us. "This entire planet is one big deathtrap!"

"Well _duh_…" Minsu snapped. "When you think of _krogan_, what comes to mind?"

"Getting stomped on by giant space monsters that shouldn't realistically exist," Robert breathed. "I mean, come on, giant _dinosaur-worms? _Gimme a _break!"_

"Actually, Minsu." Shaun corrected. "Whenever I hear the sound of glorious gunfire, the rhythm of drum beats on the wind, and the struggling of armies, all _I _think of is the smell of _freedom_."

"Good for you!" Nathan nearly screamed. "Now _shut up _and RUN!"

"Thing is: I bet Wrex is enjoying this." Garrus said knowingly.

"Nobody cares! Let's just focus on getting _away_ from the giant _worm_!" Nathan evidently _wasn't_ enjoying this. _Heh...see what I did there? _Naoros put his head in his hand, shaking his head at the hopelessness of my attempt at humor. _Ha...ha..._Tesla started half-heartedly.

"The technician shows his cowardice," Javik mused. "His true self." _HA…_

"You know, it would suck if the reaper decided to leave the shroud, land here, and kill us." Minsu conjectured. "All it'd have to do is shoot the pillars. Then, the roof would fall on us. Insta-kill. There'd be no more commander shepard to ruin all of their schemes and stratagems."

"Hey operative Kim, don't freaking jinx us, _please_. The day's _already _going bad enough." Vega begged him completely seriously. We exited the temple, entering what seemed to be an old fountain. As we did, Garrus's sharp avian eyes proved their keenness.

"Watch it, more ahead!"

"More? Jesus frakking christ! What is this, 'it's raining reapers' day?! _Mama Mia!_" Shaun complained irritably. _He's not even Italian… _

Cannibals were sniping at us from the right and the front. Shaun aimed his N7 Valiant-sniper rifle and pegged two of them in quick succession. Tesla picked off a few more with well-placed bursts. Agnarsson just sprayed, since the cannibals most of the time were too dumb to duck into cover. Or just too slow-reacting. Nathan fired another plasma round, Minsu and Vega fired their assault rifles. Garrus sniped, Liara and Javik were launching biotics again. Naoros distracted the enemy with his 10-foot tall bulk. I was content to just sit back and let the squad handle it, scanning the area for any heavier Reaper units, ravagers or brutes. There didn't appear to be any, so I relaxed for the moment.

"Shepard-" It was Mordin. "Wrex busy driving truck! Are you still alive?" _Nope, we're dead. Your goal of curing the genophage is doomed. _What _do you _think? _Common sense, Doctor!_

"Doing what we can!" Shepard yelled as a fresh mob of husks pelted towards our position. "What about you?" Yep, that was John for you. Always unnecessarily compassionate. Even when we were in a much worse situation.

"Alarmed yet entertained. Kalros quite persistent!" _Ya think? I _never _would have known, doc!_ I fired my plasma rifle at a couple howling husks who got too close to our cover for comfort. This was getting pretty repetitive and boring, as queer as that may sound.

"Wreav! Stick close!" Aww...Wrex playing the part of a caring brother to a sibling that he doesn't give a damn about? And who tried to kill him not long ago? Galaxy's full of surprises, I guess.

"Drive faster! I can smell the damn thing's breath!" Wreav barked. That cracked me up, much to the team's chagrin. The unflappable traditionalist...panicking just like everyone else. Talk about karma. Then, a _marauder-husk_ materialized. Mutated turians, I remembered. Armed with the mainstay assault rifle of the turian military, the Phaeston. They were squad leaders for husk units. I was surprised that we were only running into them now...it was confirmation that we were getting closer to the shroud structure.

They weren't that intimidating, but it just hit home the point that even the turians, the Galaxy's military powerhouse, were outmatched and being overwhelmed by the Reapers.

Rob stood out of cover and poured gauss spikes at the marauder. He swore when he found out the hard way that marauders had kinetic barriers. The marauder's return fire mostly grazed him, but a stray round punctured his suit, drawing a pained grunt from the marine. His armor was already automatically administering medi-gel, so he'd be fine. Garrus overloaded the marauder's shields and Tesla sniped it in the forehead. _Woohoo, teamwork!_ _We're getting the hang of this!_

We continued along the temple...facility, I guess you could call it...a maze of staircases and ramps…"Shepard, we've almost lost Kalros! Get down from there and we'll find you!" _Yay! More good news! But you 'lost' Kalros? Cool story, bro. _

"Hey, we can get down to ground level over there!" Rob hollered. "Just get ready to jump!" Time was of the essence, so we all leaped down without delay. Liara was audibly relieved as the convoy, now reduced to two tomkahs and a single APC, coughed to a halt. Four more APC's arrived on the sides of the three aforementioned vehicles. Phew, the four other squads and our extra APC had all survived. A lot of the krogan hadn't, though...or they'd been separated. I hoped it was the latter, but it was probably the former.

"Shepard, get over here! Wreav, keep an eye out for that maw! I don't want it sneaking up on us!" Finally, no more running to and fro on foot like a pack of fools…

"Make it quick, Wrex!" Wreav requested curtly. "We're exposed!" Without further ado, Shepard's team headed for Wrex's tomkah. The rest of us piled into the extra APC. As much as I disliked Wreav, he was right in this case. Before the last of us were inside, the ground rumbled. Dust shot up in a straight line, getting ever closer. _Kalros! _

"It's Kalros!" Wreav bellowed. _I KNOW!_ Kalros thundered past us, obscuring Wreav's tomkah from view. The APCs' gauss cannons were all spitting spikes, to no avail.

"Move, shepard!" Wrex said. I saw Shepard jump in, and then I boarded my APC.

"We're in!" Shepard reported. "Go, go!" All six of our vehicles sped off. It was at that moment that I noticed Wreav's tomkah had disappeared. _Good riddance. _

"What about Wreav?" Eve asked.

"No way he survived that! And he was a pain in the ass, anyway." A chorus of affirmations arose over the general com-link. Clearly Wrex and I weren't the only ones who were pleased with Wreav's demise. My four remaining squads of marines down here couldn't care less either! "Now let's finish this! There's a Reaper waiting for us!" Our diminished mechanized column went off the road onto the dusty tan, cracked, parched ground, approaching the shroud and the Reaper Destroyer guarding it directly.

The vehicles parked near a crumbling krogan building that was in front of the Reaper and the Shroud. Shaun, Minsu, Nathan, Tesla, Rob, and I filed out. So did Shepard, Vega, Liara, Garrus, and Javik. And so did my 48 remaining marines, who were itching to avenge squad 5-charlie. Valerian, Doug, and Anna were there too, much to my relief.

"We don't have a plan for _this_," Liara muttered.

"I know we've beaten the odds before…" Garrus began. "But getting to that tower...I don't know…" _Doubt isn't going to help us solve the problem, Garrus..._

Vega nodded in agreement. "I hope you got an ace up your sleeve, _loco_, cuz' this ain't lookin' too good for any of us!" My men actually laughed. With the Reaper in plain sight. Even _I _was thrown off by that. Had they finally lost their nerve?

"Well, birdie, bluey. Kid. Hide behind the _real _troopers then! We brought down Amon! A real-life _god_! No way in the bowels of hell a little 160-meter tall robot is gonna scare us! You said the reapers are AI's? That means _someone _created 'em! And if they can be created, you bet your sorry little lives it can be _taken down _too! That's what the good ol' General and we boys specialize in! Bringing bastards down, no matter the odds!" A marine quipped epically.

I felt a surge of pride in my men. Standing on an alien homeworld, fighting a war that didn't even concern them or _their _homes in any way...and having a damned good time while they were doing it...it was good to have loyal soldiers at your command.

Wrex was more blunt. "We're curing the genophage no matter what it takes! Everything my people will _ever _be depends on it!" _That still doesn't tell us how we're going to deal with that Reaper, Wrex!_

"Then I hope this _idea_ you were talking about was a good one," Shepard prompted. Oh yeah...the idea Eve told Wrex to hold off on telling us about...that could be useful. Gold star, John!

_You. Are. So. Annoying_.Tesla sullenly whined telepathically. I glared back at her.

"It was hers, actually." Wrex gestured to Eve. _I don't _care _who's idea it is! Just make sure it's better than...avoid the legs, or some crap like that! _

"Kalros," Eve said plainly. "We summon her to the Reaper." _Some answers, finally._

"What, and just _hope _we don't get toasted in the process?" one of my marines demanded.

Shepard was sympathetic to the marine's worries. "Would that even work?"

Mordin put in, "Already discussed strategy. Just need to distract Reaper, draw it from tower while cure synthesized, released."

"Great...and _how _does that answer the question?" Minsu was pissed, not seeing how we could possibly get to the shroud with the Reaper standing guard.

"What makes you so sure she'll come?" Shepard repeated. _That's what _I'm _wondering…_

"Legends say she is the mother from which all other thresher maws spawn. This is as much her home as ours." _Hmm...seems slightly anthropomorphic, but it makes sense…_

"If Tuchanka has a temper. Kalros is it. Nobody's ever faced her and survived." _Umm...I'm pretty sure if we wanted to do that we could just shoot her with a yamato cannon? I mean, of course if you try to bring her down with a couple APC's it's not going to work! _

"I've taken some risks in my time," Shaun allowed. "But this seems _crazy_, loco, as James so elegantly says…"

"And going head-to-head with _Sovereign_ didn't?" Wrex asked rhetorically. "This is the only way to get to that tower and release the cure. There's no other choice."

"But…" Tesla was bemused. "How would we summon her? She won't just.._show up, _will she?"

"The tower was built in an arena devoted to Kalros' glory. The salarians thought she would scare away intruders." Eve educated us, nodding to Tesla.

"Appears to have worked," Mordin piped up..

"There are two maw hammers there, the largest in existence. If you can activate them, Kalros will come. That should distract the Reaper." _Or kill it...I mean, Kalros is _huge!

Mordin pointed to the side. "Meanwhile, laboratory nearby. Will finish synthesizing cure…" _I swear...if I hear the word 'synthesize' again…_

Shepard nodded. "Let's make sure we all get out of here alive. We're going to have one hell of a story to tell." Shepard, Valerian, and Shaun began turning towards the shroud and the reaper. _Easier said than done._

"Wait!" Wrex interjected. "I want you to know that no matter what happens...you've been a champion to the krogan people, a friend of clan Urdnot," He shook Shepard's hand. "And a brother to me! To every krogan born after this day, the name "Shepard" will mean "hero!" _Okay...I'm really seeing parallels with Jim, now…_ "Now, let's show them _why!" _ Wrex roared.

Chittering, a lot of it, got our attention. The source of all that noise was a dozen ravagers. Squad Five-Alpha opened fire, strafing them. Wrex ambled towards them, Claymore-shotgun in hand. "Go! I've got this!" My men stopped firing in confusion, leaving three rachni husks dead.

"I AM URDNOT WREX. AND THIS IS MY PLANET!" He shot some of them, kicked one, and _threw _the last of them. He lived up to the title, 'walking tank.'

"See you on the other side," John said to Mordin as he brought Eve toward the lab.

I gave a few last-second orders. "Five-Alpha! Stay with Urdnot Wrex! Five-Bravo, keep Mordin and Eve safe! Delta and Echo, with me, Kalantari, and Shepard!"

"Stay safe Shepard." Mordin told him. "Will have cure ready." He peered at Valerian. The two men came to some private understanding as Mordin strode off.

I glowered up at the Reaper, and then back to my men. "Well, here it is. The endgame. After this, our part to play on Tuchanka will be over. Ready to walk with me one more time?"

The twenty-four marines of five-delta and echo squads saluted sharply. "Sir, yes sir!"

Team Shepard vaulted over a low wall, but my men simply smashed a bunch of holes in it so that they wouldn't have to actually climb. The reaper destroyer was in plain sight, the shroud looming above it. The crumbled entrance of the arena bracketed our path down the middle.

"Let's get in there!" Shepard bawled, waving his arm forward.

I unsheathed my sword, the power field humming to life along the blade. Naoros' psionic blades crackled into existence magnificently. The marines, Rob, Valerian, and Doug extended their bayonets. Anna raised her C-7. Tesla gripped her C-20A tightly. Shaun put away his N7 Valiant, drawing out a batarian-made Kishok Harpoon rifle. Minsu took out a geth plasma shotgun. Nathan duel-wielded N7 Hurricane SMGs. Vega took out his N7 Crusader shotgun. Shepard held his Vindicator battle rifle. Liara glowed blue with biotics as she grasped a Tempest SMG; Javik glowed green, still holding his particle rifle. Garrus pulled out his Phaeston, slipping his Mantis over his back.

Up ahead, dozens of cannibals led by a dozen marauders attacked, nearly twenty husks scurrying at us from the flanks. In the rear, half-a-dozen ravagers angled their targeting lasers in our direction.

Shepard fired a three-round burst, and then all Hell broke loose.

Explosions, mass accelerator rounds, and arm-cannon shots whooshed past me or fizzled on my energy shields. Three marines fell almost instantly before the survivors put up a hail of armor-piercing 8mm spikes. I reinforced our left flank, cutting down husks effortlessly. I knew Naoros was doing the same thing on the right; with all the close-range enemies out of the equation, everyone else could focus on the much more numerous and dangerous cannibals and marauders, who wielded projectile weapons.

Unconsciously, my men began to form a faint U-shape around the Reaper infantry, flanking them in a maneuver reminiscent of the horns of a bull. It was a tactic that'd I'd taken from books I read about Genghis Khan by British author Conn Iggulden. Of course, since they were historical fiction novels, the strategies were condensed in the books, but the basic idea could still be applied. Don't worry, I _did do _my own research after I read the books. Against all kinds of enemies, it was surprisingly effective in cordoning them in or pushing them steadily back.

In a lot of ways, I had trained the 151st kind of like Mongols, too. Granted, we weren't exactly light cavalry-on the contrary, we were the very definition of heavy infantry, but I made sure all of my men were proficient in long-ranged warfare and gave them comprehensive close-quarters combat training. Generally, standard terran marines were lacking in both skills, though they were accurate enough shooting their C-14's in medium and short ranges.

I'd initially decided to do all that so that'd we'd be able to better fight the zerg. On open ground, maximizing accuracy was imeprative. The more zerg that went down before they got to _you_, the better. Furthermore, terran units seemed to panic or be overwhelmed whenever the zerg got up close and personal. How could we hope to win against a primarily ground-based, non-ranged enemies if our men didn't even know how to defend themselves effectively in hand-to-hand?

Granted, CMC armor didn't exactly allow for optimal mobility, but _still._ That seemed to be a _basic _ skill that everyone should have learned in basic. Luckily, with funding and research and development personnel supplied by Valerian, we were able to field a modified version of CMC armor. It would soon become famous as CMC-550 series armor, and it wouldn't be mass-produced until after Valerian took the throne after his father's demise. The CMC-550's provided better protection and _much _better mobility, but included a much higher price-tag.

In the meantime, my allies were doing their best to hit the enemy troops head-on, launching a flurry of tech-attacks, biotics, and of course, mass accelerator fire. Under this concentrated pressure, and the heavy flanking fire from my marines, the husk troops were whittled down to nothing. After all, mass accelerators were great, versatile weapons, but C-14's and other terran gauss weaponry packed more of a punch; they could shoot _chunks _off of zerglings, hydralisks, and even _walls_. Steel walls.

If you took into account the fact that mass accelerators had to use thermal clips now, then terran weapons carried more ammunition as well. They were pretty heavy, true, but that's why marines wore hardskins, right? In terms of firepower, C-14's were up there with mass accelerator _mounted machine gun turrets_.

After a sustained firefight, the last of the company-strength enemies were finally down. Five-Delta and Five-Echo had taken five dead and three wounded, compared to nearly eighty KIA for the Reaper Destroyer's little henchmen. Not too bad at all…

"Shepard!" _Wrex_. "I took care of those Rachni! But someone has to raise those maw hammers before you can use them!" As he spoke, a fresh squad of cannibals fired upon us. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Vega knocked to the floor by the sudden onslaught.

"We're kind of busy, Wrex!" John returned as he pumped a few vindicator bursts back at them. Naoros and I attracted their attention to take the pressure from our teammates. It wasn't so hard. All we had to do was _stand _there. We were the biggest combatants in the area...Naoros was 10-feet tall and I was 8.5-feet tall, so the husk-creatures automatically targeted us anyways. My marines were eight-feet tall, but they were on the sides, while teams Shepard and Kalantari, my own team, and Valerian were directly in the center.

"Lucky for you, I'm here. I'll handle it!" Wrex assured us cheerfully. Anna incapacitated the last cannibal with a headshot from her C-7. John indicated the staircase to our left, mounting it. The rest of us acted quickly, the marines bringing up the rear and finishing stragglers.

"Shepard, some luck! Original strain in storage! Preparing the cure now!" _Finally_, _some good news..._I thought of the reaper just ahead. If the plan worked, than it would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We'd be the only people to _ever_ witness a thresher maw duel a Reaper.

"Make it quick, Mordin!" Shepard ordered as Five-delta fought a squad's worth of unseen foes. "They're all over us out here!" _Not exactly, but_ _sooner was better than later. _We emerged onto an upper level of the arena.

"By the Goddess! To our left!" Liara gasped. _What's on our left_? ..._Oh_. Gazing straight back at us was the Reaper itself. A bridge connected our part of the arena to the other side, but it had fallen out in the middle, just like so many of the other krogan buildings and bridges. John led the way, leaping across the gap. The rest of us followed him.

Shaun, Valerian, Naoros, Rob, John, and I were across when the Reaper fired its beam with a _vrong! _The red energy weapon sliced through the bridge as we attempted to turn back. We didn't make it. The stone surface beneath us fell away, and _all _of us, including the ones still on the other side, fell through, hitting the ground hard.

I righted myself efficiently. John pulled himself up. "Everybody all right?"

"I'm fine here...mostly." Garrus checked in.

"I think so," Liara stated.

"You bet, loco!" Vega shouted.

"Just as always!" Minsu reassured the commander.

"The rest of us are all green." I reported helpfully, bending over to support a breathless Tesla as she weakly forced herself to get back on her feet.

"Did we just get shot by a Reaper?" Nathan questioned in dawning realization.

"Consider that practice." Shaun and John said at the same time.

A staircase was just in front of us. It was also completely exposed to the Reaper.

"Okay Shepard, I raised the hammers." Wrex notified us. It occurred to me that they were probably in the open area beyond the stairs. "You have to activate both of them! My advice is avoid the giant laser!" _Yeah thanks…_

"Oh boy...how are we going to do this?" Rob glanced up in apprehension.

"Once we get out onto that platform, we split up. Keep moving-don't let the Reaper draw a bead on you! Shepard will go for the hammer on the right...Shaun, you'll go to the one on the left!" I made the decision for them. "Now, _go, go, go!_" I sprinted up the stairs with all the speed I could muster. As I did, the Reaper fired, blasting a pillar into smithereens.

"Are we sure about this?" That was Liara.

"Just keep moving!" Shepard commanded. "Stick to cover!" A few of my marines ignored that last order, instead staying where they were to spray their C-14's. It was futile, but it bought the rest of us some time. I looked away in shame as the Reaper's beam vaporized two of them.

Without warning, the Reaper's big red eye upturned. comparatively miniscule mass accelerator shots and Lanzer torpedoes struck the Reaper. Engines whined as dozens of fighters swooped in, turian _basra_s and terran vikings.

"Commander, this is Arimec Wing! We'll try to give that Reaper something else to shoot at!" The turian pilot in charge of them announced bravely.

"I knew they wouldn't give up," Garrus was obviously proud of his fellow turians' sense of duty, honor, and self-sacrifice. "Your pilots are good, Richard." He commended the viking flyboys.

"Goddess be with them." Liara hoped.

Go! Push ahead!" Shepard urged. _Don't need to tell me twice, man._ We passed through another staircase...down again…

"Over on our left! One of the hammers!" Liara noticed.

"The other one's on the right!" Garrus let us know. _Totally called it_.

"Getting to them is another matter entirely!" That was Liara again.

"Be warned!" Naoros bellowed. "Three of the Brutes approach!" _Three_? _Oh man…_

Naoros severed one of the brute's claw-arms, barely slowing as he nonchalantly continued with a swing at neck-level. _Smooth takedown indeed. _I blasted my plasma rifle at the second one, but it raised its claw arm in front of it to block my bolts and charged forward, bowling two marines over like ninepins. Nathan fired a plasma shot, diving to the side to evade a crushing slam from the third brute. Tesla got in a few bursts at the second as it brutally bashed a third marine.

By now, the other marines were focusing all of their Impalers on it. After a full three seconds of continuous fire, it finally died, but not before smacking Doug with a powerful post-mortem swipe. The marine fell flat onto the ground, out like a light bulb.

_At least he wasn't dead, _I reflected seriously. _He'd just have one hell of a headache. _

That left the third brute, who had sent Javik flying into a wall. The prothean had misjudged the brute's speed and paid the price for his vanity and underestimation. Liara sent a warp into it, but the Reaper shock trooper barely felt it, slamming both arms into the ground. Liara wasn't hit directly, but the shockwave sent her sprawling. The brute's oversized arm swept forward.

Valerian blocked the swing with his own body. Pummeled visor-first into the ground, the Emperor rolled onto his back, firing his C-14 steadily. Garrus must have drawn his Mantis at some point, because a full thermal clip's worth of rounds sparkled on the creature. It swung an arm at Tesla, but the shadowguard was lithe enough to roll under the blow and behind the brute. Shaun spontaneously produced a homing grenade. The high-tech explosive chirped, beelining to the brute's turian skull and exploding in its face. The massive creature finally collapsed.

Valerian smoothly got to his feet, reaching a hand out to Liara. The winded asai took his hand gratefully. "Thank you, your majesty."

Valerian snorted in disdain. "Just Valerian will suffice. Unless you'd like me to call _you_ Doctor T'soni whenever I see you…" He smirked. Taking a step, he winced. "I feel like I broke a rib…"

"Nah," I assured him. "The brute earlier hit me a _lot _harder than that. You'll be fine, Valerian. Just don't be surprised if you find a _lot _of bruises on you when you take that suit off later."

We recovered and advanced, a few of us stopping to drag Javik and Doug along. A massive metal leg _stepped _on a marine, flattening him like an insect. _DAMN!_

"Spread out!" Shaun demanded. "To the hammers! The faster we get to them, the sooner we can get out of here without being loaded into big wooden boxes first!"

One of my marines tapped me on the shoulder. "General, there's no way you'll be able to get past that big squid. We'll be the bait! The flyboys are all bugging out! Tell your buddies to take the chance and activate those damn hammers. Semper fi, sir!"

My mind went blank for a second. I didn't want to doom them to die here, so far away from their homes. I didn't want to add two _full _squads to the list of KIA. But what other choice did I have? It was the exceedingly unpleasant truth that the marines were the most expendable out of all of us. By volunteering, they'd saved me the pain of having to give the order myself. I nodded curtly, unable to express my gratitude in words. "Put in a good word for the rest of us down there."

"Sure thing. It was an honor, General...Come _ON_, boys! Oo-rah!" Eleven red- and black-clad fully armored marines formed a staggered line, screaming defiance as their C-14's barked. The red beam burned furiously towards them. The marine who'd spoken to me saluted smartly an instant before he was turned into a pile of charred scrap metal and ashes. I closed my eyes.

In a daze, I heard John exclaim, "Mordin, we hit the first hammer! How's it coming?"

"Almost have cure! Eve's vital signs dropping! Trying to compensate!" The Reaper's signature _blare_ echoed across the ancient arena dedicated to Kalros. I fired a few plasma bolts in anger.

"God. _Fekking. Damn it!_" Rob spat. "Hurry the shit up!" He'd seen the marines' sacrifice too, and he was feeling helpless and useless. _Sounds familiar_. I ducked as the Reaper's beam blew apart a section of a wall less than ten feet behind me.

"Second hammer's on the other side!" Garrus reminded us.

"Already there!" Shaun's voice carried far. "What the-" He was cut off.

"Shaun!" Minsu raged. "_Fuck this shit!_"

"Shepard, get that second hammer moving!" Wrex almost roared. As always, he was delegating all of his dirty work to us. How many men had I lost today? Thirty-six? Possibly _more_, depending on how the squad I'd sent with him and the one I'd assigned to Mordin had fared? And all _he'd_ been doing this entire time was killing a few ravagers and providing crappy moral support. A slow, burning anger washed over me, even though I did my best to stamp it out.

"There's a Reaper in my way, Wrex!" Shepard snapped, starting to lose his cool.

"I know! You get all the fun!" _Fun? He called this _fun?All of us were all so focused on not dying that no one took the time to respond to that.

"Second hammer activated!" Shaun's voice interjected. "_Almost_ got mashed by that Destroyer's leg, but his timing was a little off, so I'm okay!"

"Go! All of you! Back to the convoy! I'll take care of this cure!" John cut the air with his arm. The group complied, but I ran toward _him _instead, determined to make sure no one else perished out here in the middle of nowhere today. I merely raised an eyebrow when I saw Shaun join us, battered but still sharp. Tesla glanced at me concernedly. I waved her off, forcing a confident pose. She bit her lip but nodded, following after the others.

The hammers chimed over and over. I could feel a distant rumble, and pretty soon it felt like a thunderstorm was veering our way. The Reaper _blared_ again, an unmistakable challenge. Kalros' made her eery, shrieking cry as she submerged. The Reaper fired its beam. _Missed_. Kalros emerged and spiraled into the Reaper above its eye, the Reaper firing wildly. It attempted to shake Kalros off, knocking her into the Shroud with a _clang_. John, Shaun, and I scrambled out of the area. To stay there was to invite death.

The Reaper fired again as Kalros withdrew into the ground. The Destroyer turned warily, scanning the area for any sign of the big thresher maw. It wasn't vigilant enough. Kalros came up _behind _the Reaper, arcing to full height and throwing her full weight into the Reaper at close-to-eye-level. The sheer force of Kalros drove the Reaper downwards, and then the thresher maw wrapped her body tightly around the Reaper. Red energy crackled all along the sentient starship as it was simply _smothered _and pulled underneath Tuchanka's tan soil.

Silence reigned. It was as if that clash of titans had never even happened. The three of us gaped at the magnificent sight. The peaceful atmosphere was slightly unnerving. "Come on!" John was already scampering toward the Shroud. "We have to get to Mordin!"

As we ran into the courtyard in front of the entrance to the shroud, we ducked as an explosion rocked part of the facility. Above us, more explosions were sending chips of the walls raining down on us. The entire place had been destabilized by the duel between Kalros and the Reaper.

"Mordin, is the cure ready?" Shepard asked, striding up to the salarian scientist.

"Yes. Loaded for dispersal in two minutes. Procedure traumatic for Eve, but not lethal. Maelon's research invaluable." For all I knew, Mordin could have been a biology teacher informing his students about the appropriate procedures to follow in the lab. He was _so _calm and collected...

"She's okay?" John made sure.

"Headed to safety now." Mordin confirmed, not even pausing in his work. "Her survival fortunate. Will stabilize new government should Wrex get any ideas. Good match, promising future for krogan." _That's actually a really astute observation...no wonder they say salarians are perceptive. Mordin certainly is. _

"Watch it!" Shaun shouted in alarm. A particularly large piece of debris crashed into a panel next to us. Glass shattered from the impact of the fall.

"Damn!" Shepard yelped involuntarily.

"Control room at top of Shroud tower. Must take elevator up." _Wait_..._He was going _up _there? What...that didn't make any sense!_

"You're going up there?" Shepard was just as incredulous.

"Yes. Manual access required. Have to counteract STG sabotage. Ensure cure dispersed properly."

"Mordin, this whole thing's coming apart. There's got to be another way!" Shepard's voice was hoarse from the strain of our endeavors, but he wanted to save his friend.

"Remote bypass impossible. STG countermeasures in place. No time to adjust cure for temperature variance." Mordin turned his back to us. "No. No other option. Not coming back. Suggest you get clear. Explosions likely to be problematic."

I opened my mouth...and closed it. I'd seen enough desperate situations in my time to know that this was inevitable. Like Tassadar had counseled me six years ago, the only thing we could do was march on, fight on, and remember. _Another name to add to the list_.

John had no such reservations. "Wait, Mordin, _No_!"

Mordin turned as he entered the elevator. "Shepard, please. Need to do this. My project. My work. My responsibility." I sighed, though no one could hear me.

He nodded, his head drooping slightly. "Would have liked to run tests on the seashells."

I saluted, raising my visor in respect. Shaun stared at me and copied my salute. Shepard stepped forward heavily, weighed down by guilt.

"I'm sorry." His tone was muted in grief.

"I'm not." The former STG operative's tone was strangely light. "Had to be me." _I hope I face my death with such calm and dignity when the time comes._

The elevator's door slid down. He gazed at us sadly, blinking once. _Salarian eyes close upwards. _I observed dumbly, at a loss. "Someone else might have gotten it wrong." He added.

Those were his last words.

The elevator started to ascend. Shaun and I clapped John on the back, and together, we pondered out of the Shroud facility, leaving a friend and comrade behind.

John was lost in thought, Shaun was clearly depressed. I radioed Wrex for pick-up. We heard an especially large explosion, and turned to see the top level of the Shroud blazing orange. A swirling, green cloud had formed around the Shroud, small particles falling down like translucent snowflakes. The genophage cure. It was a beautiful sight.

John put a hand out, and a particle fell onto his hand, erupting in a small light orange stain as it was absorbed by the material. The cloud grew larger and larger, until it almost stretched out onto ground level. I could hear tomkahs and APC's arriving behind us. Tears streamed down John's cheeks. He didn't wipe them away.

John and Shaun continued to stare intently in amazement at the Shroud. I glanced back to see squads Five-Alpha, Five-Bravo, our teammates, Wrex, and Eve join us outside. Even Wrex had a look of childish wonder on his face as he put a hand above his eyes to get a better look. John swiveled away stiffly, and the rest of us followed suit.

As the last of us boarded our respective vehicles, the convoy sped off once again. I spared a glance out the window in time to see the entire structure implode, weakened by a series of internal explosions. The stately structure collapsed before our eyes.

_I didn't know you for too long, Dr. Mordin Solus, but wherever you are now, rest in peace._

* * *

**That's the end of this chapter! Mordin's sacrifice always struck me as pretty epic, and I definitely haven't done it justice; **

**Next chapter will be a little different; you'll all see why soon enough. **

**As always, follow and favorite this story if you like it, and don't hesitate to drop a review or PM me with any questions or concerns you may have!**

**That's all for now. See you all next time!**

**-The General**_  
_


	4. Chapter 4: Remembering the Lost and Past

**thefluffyone93: I PM'ed you about that. To anyone else who may be wondering the same thing, let me just say that the Leviathan DLC is still a long way off.**

**RahXephon: Added that. Sorry you don't like the story, but I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.**

**So this is chapter four, everyone. A trip down memory lane, as you'll soon discover. Thanks for all your continued support. **

* * *

**Chapter 4: Remembering the Lost and Past**

"Game of poker, anyone?" The atmosphere on-board the _Normandy_ was a solemn one. Team Kalantari, Team Shepard, and my team were all gathered on the crew deck...the mess hall, to be exact. It was Garrus who tried to lighten the mood, but it wasn't working.

Dr. Mordin Solus was KIA. On top of that, forty marines were dead. _One-third_ of Fifth company. The loss had opened old wounds. It'd only been a year since the end of the Great Wars. Not that much time. With the first serious casualties since then, I found myself thinking of all the other friends and troops I'd lost over the years. Doubtless Shepard and the others were in a similar situation, although their conflicts had been far less destructive.

To be honest, even the war with the Reapers wasn't _that _bloody. Sure, millions were dying daily, but back in Koprulu, Aiur and Tarsonis had been overrun in _less _than a _week_. Billions had died in the opening three _days _of the Great War Two. Millions of veteran troops and inexperienced recruits alike had fallen in the fight against Amon. Millions of deaths to us just didn't cut it.

We'd all been thanked by Wrex and Eve, who'd turned out to be Urdnot Bakara. The Krogan had agreed to join the war effort, and so Primarch Victus had pledged the turian fleets to the Alliance's service. The salarian dalatrass was livid, swearing to withhold all support, but large contingents of operatives within STG had given Admiral Hackett their services anyways. The asari still needed to be persuaded, and apparently, salarian Councillor Valern had just called Shepard about suspicions he had regarding human Councillor Donnel Udina.

I'd been excited at first to see that humanity actually had a representative on the citadel-that was before I realized that the asari, turian, and salarian councillors were likely vetoing everything he proposed. After all, the reigning bureaucracy couldn't allow the 'upstart human' in their midst to get out of control. Still, if Udina was a traitor, he needed to be dealt with. Very soon.

I had notified my regiment about what went down on Tuchanka a few hours ago. The _Hyperion _was following the _Normandy_ right now. Raynor, Horner, and the other Raiders had paid their respects. Valerian notified me that advance units of the Protoss and the Dominion were already on their way to citadel space; in fact, a few of them were set to rendezvous with us soon.

"Commander," Specialist Samantha Traynor's voice crackled over the PA system. "Commander Raynor is waiting for you on the vid-comm." Luckily, there was a vid-comm unit installed nearby, so none of us had to get up to head to the War Room.

"Patch him through." John requested, his expression still morose. It wasn't long before the familiar figure of Jim Raynor appeared on-screen, Matt Horner standing on his left. I could see bridge officer Bralik and navigator Marcus Cade in the background.

"Shepard." Raynor greeted. "Just letting you know that we're at the rendezvous. Tell your pilot that he can stop going for now...Sorry to hear about Dr. Solus. Richard told me a bit about him. I have to say, our own scientist would have loved to meet him."

"He was one of the best," Shepard replied automatically. Of all people, Raynor could sympathize with what John was going through. The Sector had thrown Jim around mercilessly in the past, but he had survived and thrived through problems personal and external.

"Jim, we have ships warping in." Matt stated as he monitored the holotable. "The _Koramund_, the _Bucephalus, _and the _White Star,_ respectively."

I raised my head at that. The _Koramund_ was the largest carrier in the entire protoss navy. Literally named the "Great wonder," the supercarrier had the the highest kill-count other than the prized motherships, living proof that carriers were still useful in this chaotic day and age. During the battle of Aiur, the _Koramund_ had fought side-by-side with the _Gantrithor_, Tassadar's personal flagship.

The _Bucephalus _was Valerian's flagship, the largest battlecruiser currently in existence besides the experimental _Loki's _and _Pride-of-Augustgrad's. _The _White Star_ was the next-best _Gorgon_-class battlecruiser. Valerian handed command of it over to me after Arcturus's death.

"And...one second...Zeratul's _Void Seeker_ just pulled in." Matt reported. "That's all of them."

"So what's our next destination, Shepard? The citadel?" Jim guessed.

"Yes, sir. I was told to meet the salarian councillor there. It would be the perfect time to introduce you to the Council. We can make it official that we have new allies that way and raise morale across the galaxy."

"Sounds good." Jim decided. "Send us the coordinates, and we'll follow you in. _Hyperion _out." The screen went dark as Jim cut the comm-link.

"Richard, you okay?" Shaun asked. "Losing forty men...It can't be easy."

"I'm used to it," I admitted somewhat shamefully. "In the Koprulu Sector, you walk with death every time you raise your gun. It's a cruel world out there. That's probably why we've invented so many new weapons in such a short time. The continuous warfare didn't stagnate the K-sector; it led to so much more innovation than we would've had otherwise."

"I've heard you mention the 'Koprulu Sector' in varying forms a couple times." Garrus noticed. "What is it? A place? You've also referenced...the 'Great Wars?' I'm just curious. You don't have to give me an answer if the times were as bad as you say they were."

Naoros, being a protoss, reacted much faster than I did. "The Koprulu Sector is the sector of space colonized by the terrans. It is in the shadow of protoss space, 60,000 light years away from the terran homeworld. 'K-sector' and 'Koprulu' are just convenient abbreviations of the full name. 'Great Wars' is a collective term, referring to three major conflicts and the relatively 'quieter' periods in between them. They began in December, 2499 with the Zerg infestation of the Sara system, and they ended in August of 2505 with the fall of Amon, a fallen Xel'Naga. Just under six years of hostility between zerg, terran, and protoss."

"The funny thing," Robert added, "is that it wasn't just zerg versus terran versus protoss. The zerg and protoss, for the most part were relatively united through the whole thing. They were concentrated on fighting for their own species. We terrans? Hell, even _today_, we have three governments, countless mercenary organizations, rebel groups, terrorist cells, pirate gangs, corporate private armies, and militias. Back then, it was even _worse_. We were fighting with _one another_ at the same time as we were fighting the aliens! Couldn't frakkin' agree on _anything_."

I took it from there. "Initially, the major terran factions were the Confederacy of Man, the Umojan Protectorate, and the Kel-Morian Combine. After the zerg and protoss combined, rebels called the Sons of Korhal led by Arcturus Mengsk were able to overthrow the Confederacy and declare a new government, the Terran Dominion. Shortly after the Dominion's founding, a zUED Expeditionary Force arrived in the sector; they nearly conquered the entire sector_._

The others perked up in interest. Inside, I celebrated. I was willing to do whatever it took to take their minds off of Mordin's death and how badly the Reaper war was going.

"These...factions." Liara said slowly. "Could you tell us about them?"

"Ooh...The General loves questions like that." Doug inputted. "Sometimes, I think he'd make a great politician, the way he knows all this stuff."

"Politics revolves around manipulation, private. Not merely a command of knowledge. But considering General Lee's wide range of experiences, you could be right." Valerian allowed.

I readied myself for a long lecture. "The Confederacy was the most powerful of the three terran governments in the beginning. Their capital world was Tarsonis, and they had dozens of thriving colonies, including twelve 'core worlds,' each of which had hundreds of millions of inhabitants. Korhal itself had to be home to at least six billion people before the war. The Confederacy was a _de jure _democracy, but a _de facto _oligarchy."

"An oligarchy? That's...democracy and oligarchy are _very different _things." Shaun protested.

"True. But to understand the structures of the Protectorate, Confederacy, and Combine, you have to go back to when the terrans first arrived in the K-sector. One of the supercarriers, the _Nagglfar_, crash-landed onto Tarsonis. From the beginning, the commanders of the _Nagglfar_ wielded power over the regular colonists. Over time, their families became the wealthy aristocrats, the Old Families. The Old Families were notoriously corrupt. They had so much political influence over the Confederate Council and the Senate that they were basically untouchable."

The others were all staring at me, obviously eager for more. I secretly grinned, happy that none of them seemed to be still feeling depressed or sorrowful. I liked talking about history and current events, and even the terrans and Naoros enjoyed my talk.

"In the meantime, the KMC's run by two corporate guilds-the Morian mining guild and the Kelendis shipping guild. On Moria, their capital-world, and the surrounding areas, it's very resource-rich. The Kel-Morians became engrossed with extracting natural resources without any care for the environment. Business, gaining wealth, was their way of life. To survive, you _have _to join a Guild. Everything there's about money. The Confederacy, at least, wasn't _that _bad.

"During the 2470's, the Confederacy and the Combine butted heads in the Guild Wars. After a few years, the superior industrial might and higher population of the Confederacy won out. They were the unchallenged terran 'superpower' for a long time afterwards.

"The Umojans are very different from the KMC and the Dominion. The KMC's a corporate oligarchy; the Dominion's a downright monarchy, although it's a benevolent one with Valerian in charge. The Protectorate? The protectorate was a _real _democracy. They had the lowest population-Umoja only had 2.1 billion people. Moria had 4.2 Billion, Korhal had 6.2 billion. But the protectorate gave its citizens the rights they deserved, and it had a very well-established spy network and quite a bit of cutting-edge technology."

"If these Great Wars were so destructive, why are you here? I'd expect the governments there to be fearful of involving themselves in another war." John said logically, interested.

"So many billions of people were killed in the Great Wars that even today, the estimate of KIA still rises occasionally. The truth is, no one is _sure _how many people died. It's upwards of 10 billion, if you count both terrans and protoss. Add to that a ridiculously-high number of zerg, and you have the death toll. The zerg, you have to realize, are expendable. In the krogan rebellions, the krogan could replenish their armies in a little over a year. The zerg? They can replenish their ranks within _days_. In a war of attrition, if they lose 1 _million_ creatures to _one _of your soldiers, _you'd _probably still come out the loser.

"No one in koprulu _wants _war to continue, but they're so _used _to seeing empty chairs, calling the names of friends that are already dead, and listening to news of entire worlds burning, that they simply can't bring themselves to shed a tear over casualty rates in the thousands or millions anymore. It's kind of sad, but it's just how things are.

"That's also the reason we're so willing to help _you _guys. When you survive a cataclysmic war like that, you come to realize what's the most important in life. Sure, the conservatives back home would say that we're wasting money and time trying to help you when the K-sector isn't necessarily totally secure. But public opinion would overwhelmingly favor intervention. Everyone out there can recall what it feels like to be involved in a total war. They wouldn't want you guys to suffer the same fate. For the present, we can only offer these five ships, but a full fleet is already on its way. It should arrive within the week."

The others were amazed. I didn't blame them; it was a lot of information to take in, and I'd only given them the _very_ dumbed-down version of things. I let them absorb and process all of that for a little while.

It was Shaun who finally broke the silence. "That reminds me...just how _did _you go from an Alliance marine corporal to a honorary citizen of the Protoss Protectorate and a _General_ in the Terran Dominion marine corps?"

"It sure as hell wasn't easy," I assured my old friend. "If you all want, I can show some memories of mine; it should clear up the questions you have and give you an idea of what warfare in the koprulu sector was like back in the day."

"Well, the ship's guns _do _need to be calibrated, but I think I'll stay for a story. It sounds like a good change of pace." Guess who it was saying _that_? Our resident turian.

"Let's hear it…" John agreed. "Wait...you said..._memory_? Did I hear that right?"

Valerian interjected. "The protoss have energy crystals named Khaydarin crystals and Ihan crystals. Both types can be used to store memories, though Ihan crystals are more effective. It's much more 'real' than being shown a movie or a video."

"Whoa...that sounds _so _cool…" Nathan muttered. "Count me in!"

"Well," I said. "If the rest of you are open to the idea too, then I'll bring in the Khaydarin projector."

"I think it'll be worth it," Vega decided.

"Why not?" Minsu shrugged.

"Go ahead then, Richard." John prompted. "I don't think anyone has any objections."

"Naoros, order a few zealots to ferry it over to us." My brother-in-arms nodded, swiftly carrying out my request. Before long, the Khaydarin projector had been installed in the mess hall.

"Okay...one-by-one, I want all of you to put a hand on the crystal until it blinks. That way, the crystal will 'memorize' all of your psionic signatures and be able to project the memories to you. I'll demonstrate." I placed my right hand on the crystal. After three seconds, it blinked, neon-blue energy illuminating it for a moment. I removed my hand. Naoros was next. "Just like that," I gestured to the others. "Understood?"

A chorus of affirmations. I waited for them all to complete the process. It took a while-John, Shaun, Garrus, Liara, Javik, Vega, Valerian, Tesla, Naoros, Rob, Doug, Anna, Tenny, Minsu, Nathan, Joker...There we go... "Now that we're all done, get comfortable. I'll be putting my hand onto the crystal again to start playing the memories, and then everything will be going really quickly after that." I walked up to the crystal. "In three...two...one…Brace yourselves." I laid my hand onto the Ihan crystal's cool surface.

In an instant, I wasn't on the _Normandy_ any longer...

* * *

The doors slid open with a hiss. The spacious conference room was full as Sergeant Major Robert Agnarsson and I entered, looking for a place to sit. A middle-aged man in a polished uniform waved us over. I recognized him and nodded in greeting, taking a seat next to him.

"General Edmunds, it's been a while." Thomas Edmunds was a former confederate officer who defected to the Dominion shortly before the fall of Tarsonis. He had no love for the Emperor, but he respected Valerian, just as I did. Over the last two-and-a-half years, my 151st Infantry Assault Battalion and elements his 57th Mechanized Infantry Division had cooperated on more than one occasion.

"That it has been, son. I'm guessing your battalion's been involving itself in more wild zerg chases? Heard you mentioned on the news a few times."

"That would be us, sir. You know, can't stay out of trouble."

"Right...because your unit certainly doesn't _look_ for trouble."

"Of course not sir."

"Heh heh...you know why we're here, Richard?"

"Prince Valerian wasn't all that clear."

"Don't know too much myself, but I'm told it's related to...aliens who aren't zerg _or _protoss."

"Huh, that's interesting. Who are all these people?"

"You should know their names, even if you haven't seen their faces. Lieutenant Commander Gregory Reikson, the CO of Omega Squadron. Everett Vaughn, captain of the _Bucephalus_. Major Spaulding of the 22nd Division-the Annihilators. Colonel Franklin Davidson of Alpha Squadron. Captain Rourke of Nova Squadron. And that's...Nova Terra, agent X41822N. The rest of them are all aides or subordinate officers."

"That's a whole lot of the Dominion's finest. What I'm not getting is why you and I are here."

"I suspect it's because Arcturus wants to assert his dominance over his son's most loyal followers-remind us who's boss, so to speak."

"Aw man...not the fact that we're the best at what we do?"

Edmunds laughed. "That too. That too." He assured me jokingly.

The others in the room straightened as Emperor Arcturus Mengsk of the Terran Dominion strode into the room. Rob, Edmunds, and I exchanged unimpressed glances.

"At ease, ladies and gentleman." The Emperor's voice was firm and crisp, reminding me that despite his haughtiness and status as head of state, he had once been an officer in the Confederate Marine Corps and the leader of the Sons of Korhal 'Freedom Fighters.'

The hologram of a lush planet appeared on the room's holoprojector as the Emperor spoke, "This is Cavernus III, an umojan colony of previously no importance. Recently, a umojan science expedition uncovered a xel'naga temple on the planet. Whatever they dug up from it, the umojan protectorate seems to think it's important. Dominion Intelligence Section intercepted several of their transmissions. They consistently mention an artifact called...the 'core.' The umojans believe that it contains the coordinates of the locations of several pieces of a larger device. This device could potentially be used, according to the scientists, as a weapon against the protoss and the zerg."

Mengsk lit a cigar. "Such a powerful weapon cannot be allowed to fall into the hands of these race traitors. That's why all of you are here. Each of you has shown your unwavering dedication to our great Dominion and everything it stands for. With the core in our hands, we will be able to find and excavate the device's components. Once our experts assemble the weapon, we will finally be able to end the protoss and zerg threats once and for all. Humanity will claim what is rightfully ours."

He puffed on the cigar. "Now I'll be turning over the 'stage' to Captain Rourke. Captain?"

The slender commanding officer of Nova Squadron stood up and stepped in front of the holo-projector. "Cavernus III doesn't have a very large population. About 100,000 umojans live there, roughly 80% of them concentrated in the colony's major settlement: Pasteur City. The colony's starport is in the north of the city, situated next to Military Base XT9920. According to our sources, the umojans have a regiment of troops posted there.

She paused. "As for the temple, the umojans have gone to great pains to hide its location, but with the help of DIS, we were able to locate it." The hologram zoomed in...onto a Vespene gas refinery a few miles south of the city. "The supposed refinery is actually the science team's research facility. As you can see, the temple structure itself and the surrounding ruins are next to the refinery. The ruins are massive...estimates put them at around the size of a small city. Safeguarding the temple in positions throughout the area are a battalion of elite umojan marines, up to twenty-four umojan Shadowguards, and a network of defenses including auto-turrets, missile turrets, gun turrets, and bunkers." Rourke finished speaking, glancing at Arcturus.

"Thank you, Jessica." The Emperor took over. "In order to ensure that we are able to not only recover the core but also explore the site's other potential secrets, our forces must conquer Cavernus III in the name of the Dominion. All the troops we need for this operation will be ferried to the Cavernus system in a fleet of _Mammoth_-class carriers, Battlecruisers, and other vessels. The umojans only have a single battlecruiser orbiting the colony. It won't stand a chance. Vaughn, you'll be in overall command of the strike fleet.

"That's where the rest of you come in. Davidson, your 43rd regiment will land outside the city and push into it from the north. Reikson, your 92nd orbital warfare battalion will drop in over the city, thereby attacking the garrison from within and sowing chaos. I will be devoting the 19th infantry division to assisting the both of you in subjugating the population. In the meantime, Edmunds, two of your regiments will help them consolidate control over the area. Your third regiment will surround the xel'naga ruins.

"Lee, after the city and the perimeter is secure, your 151st Assault battalion and Reikson's elite 31st shock battalion will be responsible for clearing the ruins. Detachments from Nova Squadron will aid you in that. Major Spaulding, your division and agent Nova are to breach the temple structure and recover the core. I will be deploying the 19th and 17th infantry divisions to occupy the colony in case of a umojan counterattack and mop up the remaining resistance." He looked at all of us individually. "I will be holding the Thundering Third Division in reserve. Any questions?"

I added that all up in my head. Mengsk was devoting a mechanized infantry division, three infantry divisions, a tactical strike regiment from Alpha squadron, two heavy assault battalions from Omega, a black ops battalion from Nova, my specialized 'light infantry' battalion, the Dominion's finest special forces unit, and its finest ghost to taking Cavernus III. If my calculations were correct, that was nearly 70,000 ground troops plus supplies and vehicles. You'd need one _hell _of a fleet to carry that many soldiers over interstellar distances.

"Sir, how are you planning to transport so many men to Cavernus?" I quizzed.

"Fifteen battlecruisers and a dozen _Mammoth_-class carriers, accompanied by three science vessels and a squadron of light cruisers and destroyers will be responsible for bringing everyone involved to the battlefield. This will be a momentous undertaking, but I have confidence that you will succeed. The umojans cannot stand up to the might of the Dominion. If there are no other concerns, you are all dismissed. Good luck, my loyal subjects."

The others stood up to leave the room, Rob and Edmunds falling into step next to me. "What's your opinion on this glorious operation?" I queried the general as we emerged out into light of Korhal's sun.

"To be honest," Edmunds said, glancing around to make sure no one was within earshot, "I'm not too enthusiastic about this. The umojans, if they assembled the device, would likely just use it for self-defense or scientific study. Mengsk? He'd use it offensively. That'll piss the protoss and the zerg off, and then Great War II will start. Sure, you could say that the war's _bound _to start up, but it's better for that to happen later rather than sooner."

"So you don't want him to succeed."

"In taking the colony? I couldn't care less. But obtaining the core? No, I don't want him to."

"Same here." I put out a hand, which Edmunds shook firmly. "I say we notify Valerian."

Rob interrupted. "I think he already knows."

I looked at him blankly. Rob pointed surreptitiously ahead. I saw a Moebius Foundation security guard ambling casually over to us from a parked groundcar.

"Lieutenant Colonel Lee? Major General Edmunds?" The uniformed man confirmed. "Come with me. Our board would like to speak with you." I read between the lines: _Valerian_. Robert was right.

The three of us slid into the groundcar, and the nameless guard drove off. Finally, at Valerian's 'secret' residence, the car stopped. "Have a nice day, gentlemen."

We thanked the guard and approached the house. A female lieutenant met us as at the door. "The prince is expecting you. Go on in. He's in the office."

We passed into the house itself. The two uniformed marines on guard duty saluted us as we mounted the staircase. Everywhere, there were signs of the Mengsk Dynasty's wealth...on the ornately crafted balustrade, the expensive wood floor, all the antique decorations from ancient cultures sitting around.

The door to Valerian's office was left ever so slightly open. We could see the insignia of the Mengsk family; two golden wolf heads facing eachother. I opened the door softly. The heir apparent to the throne of Korhal was reading through a datapad. He looked up as we came in.

"Ah, gentlemen. Please, take a seat. Sergeant major, if you would close the door behind you?"

We settled down in a pair of handcrafted seats facing Valerian, Rob taking a position by the door.

"I appreciate you taking the time to come...I suppose my father has introduced you to Operation Cloak-and-Dagger?"

"Yes sir. We were just coming back from the meeting when your man picked us up." I affirmed.

"My father, in situations like these, can be rather shortsighted. I want to know if I can trust either of you with a...rather dangerous task?"

"Of course, sir. If it has to do with _not _letting the Emperor to get his hands on the core, then you can count me in." Edmunds proclaimed.

"Good...I wouldn't want my father to obtain it either. Instead, I'd like the two of you to find a way to pretend to destroy the core, while instead covertly handing it to the Moebius Foundation."

"Why Moebius?" I inquired.

"My colleague, xenobiologist and archaeologist Dr. Emil Narud, hypothesizes that the components whose locations are stored inside the core can be combined to form a larger artifact, one that could be used to theoretically, deinfest the Queen of Blades."

Edmunds and I gaped at him. "What? How is that-" Edmunds spluttered.

"I understand. It sounds impossible." Valerian acknowledged, holding up a hand. "But Dr. Narud is _the _expert on xel'naga technology. If he says it's possible...then it is."

"All right…" I conceded. "I'm no archaeologist...We'll be sure to bring the core to the Moebius Foundation...but I think there's another reason you called us in here."

"There is...my grandfather, Ailin Pasteur, is currently on Cavernus III. As you both know, my father doesn't particularly care about civilian casualties, as long as his men achieve their goal."

"The fact that he planted psi emitters on Antiga Prime and Tarsonis makes that a moot point." I responded. "You want us to keep your grandfather safe too? That'll be considerably harder."

"Can I count on you to do it?" Valerian pressed.

Thomas and I glanced at each other. After a pause, Edmunds nodded. I turned back to Valerian. "We'll do it. The general will have to be the one to evac your grandfather, as he'll be posted in Cavernus city. I'll take care of the core, since your father wants my men to accompany Reikson's shock battalion, the 22nd, and agent X41822N in clearing out the ruins."

"I see…If anyone asks…"

"We never had this conversation, your highness." Rob chimed in.

Valerian smirked. "Precisely. I can't thank either of you enough. Godspeed." He shook both of our hands. "Umojan space was home for much of my life, and I still have many connections there. I would hate to witness all of them killed or captured by my father's forces for interrogation."

The meaning of that last sentence was clear; even if the other units didn't take prisoners, we were supposed to. "You don't need to mention it, sir. We're not that type of person." _We'd take prisoners anyways._.._and treat them decently._

"I know. That's why I trust both of you more than the rest. Farewell for now. May you survive and prosper." The Crown Prince of the Terran Dominion hoped as we left his office.

I turned around at the doorway. The guards were within hearing. "We'll keep you updated on the...stock prices, sir." Valerian's expression told us that he knew what I was _really _referring to. I just couldn't say that in front of the guards, who were likely informants of our illustrious monarch.

Our fones pinged. _+++Operation: Cloak-and-Dagger to proceed in __**1 **__day. Report to the Augustgrad Starport tomorrow at 0300 hours+++ _

I clapped Edmunds on the shoulder. "Keep in touch, General."

"Good-bye, colonel." Edmunds replied. We went our separate ways, Rob and I discussing the logistics of getting six-hundred men and women ready in less than fourteen hours.

* * *

"All personnel, be advised. We are pulling into the Cavernus system. ETA half-an-hour. Lieutenant colonel Lee to the bridge, please. Lieutenant colonel Lee to the bridge."

The 151st and I were aboard the _Gorgon_-class battlecruiser _Herakles_ now, captained by a bright young naval officer named Roger Merriman. He and I had gotten along well from the start, so he was quick to greet me as I accessed the bridge.

"Richard! Take a look: that's Cavernus III over there. And..the umojan battlecruiser and its wraiths are heading in to intercept our fleet...I don't think their captain's realized how outmatched he is….and the _Bucephalus_ just fired its Yamato. The cruiser's drifting now. All systems are down. That was easy. Too easy." The remaining fighters exploded as dozens of laser batteries focused their fire on them.

"Won't be so easy for you guys," Roger said knowingly. "You'll actually have more substantial resistance. Watch your six down there, all right? Wouldn't want to lose someone who's actually willing to play the game with me."

I blinked. "Did you really just…."

"Refer to 'the game?' Yeah I did. I get that it's outdated, but still...it's kinda fun."

"Uh-huh...well, I'll see you later, Roger. Don't let your guard down. Anything could happen."

"Yeah. I was a lieutenant back at Bhekar Rho. I know that firsthand." I heard about the battle of Bhekar Rho; I was still with the protoss then. Naoros told me about it.

I saluted Roger as I hurried off to the hangar bay. My men were already armed and armored by the time I suited up and finally joined them. Rob came to attention. "All units accounted for. Ready to deploy by dropship at your command."

I eyed my marines, veterans who'd served with me for nearly three years on dozens of battlefields against enemies of all kinds, be they zerg, protoss, or terran. We'd become close-knit in our stint of service together, due to our small size for a battalion.

"I'm going to assume the platoon leaders already went over what's happening?" They nodded stolidly in wave of sound.

"Good. Once General Edmunds gives us the all-clear, we're going to deploy near his men. As soon as the 31st battalion's in place, we'll be storming the battlements. Expect heavy resistance and a lot of traps. The umojans know their unconventional warfare. That reminds me...you're all aware of Omega Squadron's reputation. If they go overboard, I'm expecting you all to reign them in. We can't stand idly by while people get brutalized. Am I clear?"

"_Crystal_, _sir!"_ Hundreds of voices chanted as one.

Satisfied, I sat down and pulled out a canteen, sipping from it boredly. Rob leaned against the wall next to me. I had water in my suit's filters, but I didn't want to waste it right now. It would probably be some time yet before Thomas secured the periphery of the temple. Until then, all we could do was wait. I watched my men as they fiddled with fones, played cards, and ate from their rations. It was oddly peaceful…

"Sir?" Rob and I both looked up. An 'extra' medic who'd been accidentally transferred to the battalion just three weeks ago, private first-class Anna Lewis was so talented at doing her job that she had already earned a Combat Medical Field Badge, after passing an exam that many experienced field medics who'd been serving for years considered tough.

It occurred to me that Lewis had probably never been in an actual combat situation before. "Yes, Lewis?" I asked the blond 19-year old native of Tyrador IX. "Is there something you need?"

"Just wondering, sir...you said the 151st mainly fights aliens."

"It does mainly fight aliens...but when command says you have to fight other terrans, you can't exactly just say 'no, I don't feel like it.' The Emperor points and we obey, through the warp and far away. That's just how it works."

"What was _that _from?" Rob demanded. "That through the warp and far away business? Sounded like a poem or something."

"Nah, I just took an old marching song that gamers back home changed the lyrics of. It seemed fitting. We're ruled by an emperor and all...My advice to you, Lewis, is to keep your head down and stay close. One bad decision is all it takes. People say that they survive war because of their own skill. That's only partially true. There's a lot of luck involved. Fate may have its favorites, but a gauss spike doesn't care who it kills. So don't tempt fate."

"Yes sir."

I stood up as my comm crackled. "57th to Crimson Dragon, I repeat, 57th to Crimson Dragon. LZ is secure; umojans are boxed in. You are cleared to descend. Over."

"Understood. We're departing now. Over." The marines who were close enough to overhear were already picking up their gear. "151st, it's time to roll out! Report to your designated dropships. Let's get this show on the road."

I made sure my plasma rifle and power sword were in place. Rob and I filed into a dropship with two squads from A Company. The men wordlessly prepared for take-off. On the ground, they were usually talkative and lively, but everyone knew how vulnerable we were in space. All we could do was sit there and hope the pilot touches down safely.

"Morning jarheads, welcome to the _Jarhead _express." _Had this pilot really named his ship the 'jarhead' just to piss off all the marines who rode on it?_ "Weather today is sunny; the skies are orange and the wind ain't too bad. No flyers or air jockeys interceptin' us-that's a first. Sit back and enjoy the ride…"

Over the battlenet, a high-pitched terran voice shouted, "What the _hell?_ **Zerg**!" _Zerg? _

"All units, this is Captain Vaughn. Zerg leviathans are warping in. We will delay them for as long as possible, but expect zerg ground units to drop onto Cavernus III's surface sooner or later. Over and out." _This mission just got a whole lot more complicated…_

"Well gents and ladies, it looks like we _will _be able to use our anti-alien training after all…" A few marines chuckled over the comm, but most of the others were lost in their own private worlds, unable to contain their worry as the dropship continued its dive. _War never changes…_

"All right boys and girls, we're right on top of the LZ. With the zeg ruining our days, I ain't planning on staying here too long, so don't let the door hit your ass on the way out. Remember to kill at least one of the buggers down there for me."

With a thump, the dropship hit the ground. "That's our cue, marines." I unloosened the seat's restraints and pulled out my plasma rifle, its sleek golden design seeming to light up the confines of the 'bus.' "We don't want to have to fight the zerg _and _the umojans, so let's make this quick."

As I disembarked from the craft. Outside, squads were lining up and NCO's were barking last-minute commands. The color scheme of the 57th mechanized division was brown, and I saw General Edmunds himself walking up to us.

"Glad to see you made it. Don't worry, if the zerg make any trouble, we'll handle it. I'll be taking a shuttle to the city soon. That's where the majority of my men are. Keep the plan in mind: I'll look for Pasteur; you'll handle the core. This is our time."

I straightened. "Yes sir. See you on the other side. Don't die."

"Stay alive, colonel. We'll have one hell of a story to tell when we're older."

I examined my men, who were awaiting orders. A knot of marines in orange armor appeared. _Omega Squadron._ The marine at their head put his hands behind his back. "Lieutenant colonel Lee. How nice of you to join us." There was a hidden spite in his tone. "Think your men can keep up with the Dominion's best?" _Arrogance. It's everywhere these days_…

"My men can keep up with themselves, if that's what you're asking." _Two can play that game_.

Lieutenant Commander Reikson's expression darkened. "Good to know...Well Lee, I've got the order of battle figured out. My color guard company will be taking point, heavies who're perfect for cracking open entrenched positions. I want you and a company of your men going in with them. My shock battalion and the Special Forces will follow you in. Your battalion can bring up the rear. Sound like a plan?"

"That's fine by me. Are you too scared of having my men take away all the glory?"

'No. Your greenhorns wouldn't last a second against determined defenders. I'm doing you a favor." Reikson explained haughtily. _Right_…

"In that case, I have no idea how to repay you." _Besides with a bullet to your head_. "When do we start?"

"Right now...my color guards formed up ten minutes ago. You'd better get on your game." The CO of Omega Squadron about-faced and marched off triumphantly.

"What a fecklehead." Rob muttered.

I shrugged. "A company, form on me! Captain Stennis is to assume command over companies B thru E for now." I searched out the older captain with my eyes, who nodded firmly. Stennis, the trustworthy captain of A company, _never _let his guard down. A fitting choice to assume temporary command of the battalion. I didn't trust Reikson one bit.

The one-hundred twenty men and women of A company assembled. Up front, Reikson's 300 'color guards'-undoubtedly full of resocialized criminals-began their advance.

"A company, let's _go_!"

A company's personnel had been my first recruits, individuals who'd served with me from the very beginning. There was no one else I'd rather have by my side, other than Naoros and the Legion of Tassadar's Chosen or my friends from high school on Earth.

The first hour-and-a-half or so ticked by uneventfully. By now, the Omegas were out of sight. That's when the umojans decided to show their teeth.

"Taking fire!" A color guard yelled.

"Sniper! Get down!"

"Watch the flank! Goliath!"

"Auto-turrets!"

I drew up the color guard's unit roster. Dumbfounded, I observed that thirty of them were already 'red.' One-tenth of the entire company had been wiped out. And we were right behind them.

"Colonel Lee, this is Major Davis, Omega Squadron Color Guard! We're pinned down. Requesting assistance. Can your company breach the enemy position?"

"I'll see what I can do, Major." I broke into a jog. "We're coming."

We arrived at the color guard's beleaguered position, taking in the sight of the environment and the many casualties the large company had already suffered.

"2nd platoon. Split into two groups and flank the enemy from the side alleys. First platoon, we'll draw their fire. Davis, support us in a frontal assault so that the enemy won't figure out they're about to be ambushed. On three….one...two….three! Stick to cover! Go _go go_!" I blind-fired my plasma rifle as I ran, doing my best to direct my shots at the flashes of the defenders' rifles.

Our entire first rank was sent sprawling by an ear-splitting volley of spikes. The umojans were damned good. There was a platoon's worth of them huddled behind barricades, with a trio of auto-turrets, at least one sniper, and a marine manning a gun-turret in support. A goliath, too.

I aimed at the plexiglass shielding the cockpit of the goliath, unleashing a torrent of blue bolts. The glass shattered, and the pilot writhed as he was struck a dozen times. I heard a _crack_, and a pair of rounds slammed into my shields, draining them to half-strength. _Damn sniper…._ A marine to my left was struck in the shoulder and slumped against the wall. "Medic!" another called out.

I ignored them and sprayed, hoping at least a few of the umojans would be forced into cover. Another marine collapsed, his visor punctured by a sniper round. I saw one of my marksmen return fire with his BOSUN FN92 rifle, one that was usually reserved for ghosts. A figure in a hostile environment suit fell from an ancient xel'naga building's window and bit the dust.

"Nice shot, Campbell. You just hit a shadowguard. Over."

"Saw it, sir. Told'ja I'm the best."

"A master-craftsman," I recalled one of his boasts.

"Hehe...damned right!"

I shook my head. I heard the cacophony of _dozens _of C-14's firing. The remaining umojans staggered back as if a swarm of bees were stinging them. Concussion grenade blasts disabled the auto-turrets. I grinned. _Second platoon._

"Move forward, people! If we're ever going to get to the temple, we'd better press our advantage whenever we can! Come _on_!" I leapt to my feet. "Second platoon, keep holding our flanks."

I was vulnerable running in front of the men, but I knew my protection was better than theirs. Plus, I was leading the men by example. Most importantly, I _really_ wanted to win this _before _the zerg joined the party.

A squad of umojans raised their gauss rifles, putting up a hail of spikes. _Only a squad? Not worth wasting the time..._I sprinted up to them, firing as I did. Hurling my rifle like a javelin, I drew my sword. The marines were clearly intimidated, hesitating at the gleam of my blade. Taking the chance, I surged forward, battering them aside with swift swings and cuts. I missed a few in my rush, but the men took care of them. I picked up my sword, sheathed it, and then scrambled onwards, staying alert for any signs of the enemy.

I dove to the side as spikes chewed up the ground where I'd been standing. A team of marines manning a gun-turret. Peeking out of cover, I fired a quick burst and then drew back. The automatic fire stopped. A lucky shot of mine had incapacitated the gunner. I heard the triple crack of a Bosun, and then one of the marines announced, "Clear!"

We continued storming scattered defenses like that for several hours. I was exhausted as hell from constantly staying in front of the formation, but it had paid off. We'd taken about eighty casualties in total, but dispatched two-hundred umojans.

Still dashing forward, I could hear umojans roaring orders. There were a lot of them this time. I skidded to a stop and raised a clenched fist, the others halting behind me. A long, reinforced barricade was ahead. The ruins for about a hundred yards between us and them had been cleared, and there must have been at _least_ a company of umojans crouching over there _waiting _for us to charge. I gulped. _How were we going to get past them?_

I couldn't think of anything at the moment. It was a well-made and heavily-manned line of defense. Sounds of a struggle on my right filtered in before a sergeant from 2nd company notified me that they'd taken out another squad of defenders and a raven who'd been about to attempt to flank us. To be truthful, I don't think they could've done very much damage to us anyway, considering there were nearly three-hundred of us here in the center.

Looking farther, I belatedly recognized the temple itself. We'd pushed so _far_. The objective was in our grasp! I clicked my comm. "Crimson Dragon to Omega Command. Over."

"Reikson here. Whaddya want, Lee?"

"We've arrived at the main temple structure, where the bulk of the umojans are situated. We are unable to proceed. Defenses too thick. Over."

"Oh...Copy that. We're almost at your coordinates. Hang in tight."

I switched my comm to the general network to see how the battle was going elsewhere. There was nothing I could do until Reikson arrived, after all. I didn't like what I heard.

"Be advised, 19th division has been pushed back. The 17th is in full retreat. Zerg converging on Cavernus city. I repeat, zerg converging on Cavernus city. The Thundering Third is on the ground and fortifying city defenses. Task Force Temple, speed it up. Entire operations is going south. Battlecruisers _Aegis, Polyphemus_, and _Campaigner _have been destroyed. _Norwegian _is conducting emergency warp jump out of the system for repairs. Tactical response squadrons three-thru-nine, redirect to quadrant sigma-tango-alpha-one-two-five-"

So to sum it all up, while we were starting to make gains here, the rest of the expedition was getting hammered by the zerg swarm. Oh boy…And just as I thought this battle couldn't get anymore complicated, the universe decided to spit into my face.

"_Bucephalus _to fleet; _Bucephalus _to fleet. Tal'darim protoss vessels warping in; Five carriers and assorted support vessels. Warp prisms have bypassed both our lines and the zerg leviathans. Projections show their destination is the xel'naga Temple. I say again, Tal'darim protoss fanatics are heading to the temple. Ground units, brace yourselves. Prepare to engage."

I swore in three languages: English, Chinese, and Khalani. Rob, a few of the other marines, Anna, and Major Davis glanced at me questioningly.

I grimaced. "Just look up." I pointed into the orange sky. On any other day, I would've appreciated its 'alienness' compared to Earth's blue sky, but I wasn't in the mood today. _Tal'darim. _Those who could hear me followed the unofficial order I'd just given, likely wanting to comprehend what had gotten me so riled up. As I expected, a chorus of gasps, choice swear-words and nervous chattering filled the air.

The shimmering golden shapes of dozens of protoss warp prisms hovered over the Temple. I would normally be awed and happy to see such a demonstration of the protoss arsenal. But these weren't warriors of Shakuras or Aiur, these were the Tal'darim, fanatics dedicated to preserving holy artifacts and purging the universe of unbelievers and terran defilers. Screams and panicked cries arose from the umojans, and I couldn't help but wince in sympathy.

"Orders, sir?" Rob's tone and expression were grim. We'd fought Tal'darim before, multiple times, but that was with the entire battalion together, sometimes along with detachments of the 57th. Now, we were probably outnumbered by the Tal'darim, and there were still the umojans and zerg to contend with.

I shouldered my plasma rifle. "Extend bayonets. Remember your CQC training. This is going to get messy. Our priority will have to be the tal'darim. Do everything in your power to leave the umojans you run across unharmed. If you see umojans being attacked by protoss, help the umojans out. Acknowledge my orders."

I waited for the others to affirm them. "Then _charge_! Show the Tal'darim who _we _are!"

We swept forward in a mob, knocking over or jumping across barricades, which the umojans had abandoned in the face of the Tal'darim assault. I set my comm to an unencrypted broadband so that both the umojan and dominion troops here could hear me. I risked the Tal'darim finding out what I was saying by doing so, but I had to make my meaning clear.

"This is Dominion marine Lieutenant colonel Richard Lee to any terrans on Cavernus III. If we keep fighting each other, the Tal'darim or zerg will kill us all. As commanding officer of a Dominion battalion, I propose a truce between our two sides. The tal'darim and the zerg _have _to be dealt with first! Otherwise, we're both screwed! If you can hear me, respond!"

"Major Davis, here. I scan you."

"Agnarsson here. The 151st heard you loud and clear."

"Colonel Serge Sage here, senior surviving officer of the umojan garrison. I accept this truce. All umojan forces, cooperate with the Dominion troops against the protoss and the zerg."

"_Bucephalus _here. We copy."

"This is Edmunds. We'll follow your lead, colonel."

"This is Reikson. We have no problem with that." _He didn't say 'yes'..._

A few others responded, and then the broadband was silent. I looked around. There were lots of fallen umojan marines, their white armor standing out in the ruins they had been posted to guard. No dead Tal'darim yet. The surprise of their sudden strike was total. We at least got a warning from orbit. The umojans, with no naval assets left to speak of, didn't have that luxury.

"Heads up! Protoss!" Rob bellowed. Dozens of zealots and twenty stalkers materialized seemingly out of nowhere, their platinum armor making the day seem darker despite the hot sun above us. The Tal'darim looked more...sinister than normal protoss, I had to admit.

My plasma rifle was already whining, and C-14's and K-12 punisher grenade launchers clattered and boomed all around me. Somewhere in the back I could hear Reikson's battalion, the rest of the 151st, and the nova squadron teams joining the fight. _Just in time._

Rounds and grenades sizzled and exploded on the shimmering blue energy shields of the protoss, and then I became cognizant of terrified cries and desperate roars as the psionic blades of the zealots whirred and the stalkers barraged our lines with their deadly particle disruptors.

_En taro Tassadar._ I thought as I put my plasma rifle in my left hand and drew my power sword with my right. _Bring it on_...

* * *

**Another cliffhanger this time...hope you like this chapter and hope you all know what 'device' and 'components' everyone was talking about. I'll just give you a hint and say: Char. This 'memory' took place pre-Wings of Liberty, just in case you didn't know.**

**Much of this chapter is filler: Lee trying to cheer his friends up after Mordin's death.**

**The game never made it clear how the Dominion or Valerian knew where to find the pieces of the artifact, so the 'core' is my answer.**

**The battle of Cavernus III will be getting even more complicated soon enough. It already has Dominion, umojans, zerg, and Tal'darim, true. There's one more major faction that hasn't made an appearance yet.**

**Rest assured-chapter five is on the way.**

**Follow and favorite this story if you like it, and don't hesitate to private message me or drop a review.**

**Have a great day.**

**-The General**


	5. Chapter 5: Honor and Loyalty

**After a nearly month-long hiatus, I'm back. Sorry, but writer's block and finals both suck, especially when added together. I'll try to update regularly again from now on.  
**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Honor and Loyalty**

It wasn't long before I realized that we'd been caught in a very bad spot. The Tal'darim had ambushed us _in the open_. That defied all logic...we should have seen them coming. I had no illusions about the current situation: no terran force, no matter how well-trained in CQC, could stand up to a head-on zealot rush. Marines were falling, gashed by the zealots' rampaging neon-blue psionic blades.

I sprayed bolts at multiple zealots to distract them from the marines and then yelled at the top of my lungs, "All terran units, _run for your lives_! DISPERSE!" Following my own advice, I waved a hand and ran as fast as my hardskin allowed me to.

I spared a glance backwards. Most of the enemy were ignoring us, but six zealots were chasing us, obviously thinking that I'd lost my wits and that we were beaten. _Not the case._

It felt like ages, but in reality, I'd probably only been running for five minutes when I turned around. "Take them out!" _Another move I took from the Mongol playbook: the false retreat. _My men about-faced, switched to full-automatic, and peppered the zealots with spikes. Their energy shields flared, collapsed, and then they fell unceremoniously.

"Status report," I requested.

"Sir, A company has twenty men down. The rest are all here." Rob reported. "We have fifty Omegas here with us too, but I have no clue where the others are. I contacted Stennis. It looks like battalion-strength protoss are staving off the rest of the 151st, Reikson's men, and the Nova Squadron detachments. The regiment Edmunds posted here spotted zerg coming in."

"Any good news?"

"The Tal'darim seem to be ignoring us. On the flip side, that means they're probably more interested in getting to the core and holding off Reikson. It gives us a perfect opportunity to ambush the Tal'darim nearer to the Temple. Smash and Grab."

I considered that for a moment. "I guess that's all we can do. A company, let's go. This way!" I raised my plasma rifle and dashed up in the direction of the Xel'naga Temple's coordinates. We had to get there _before _the aliens slaughtered everybody here. "Men, get to the core at _any _cost! It doesn't matter if both Rob and I go down, you need to keep going until you get there! Once you get to the core, make sure it get's into Valerian's hands, not the Emperor's. Understood?"

"Sir, yes sir!" My men chimed as I led the way.

"More terran raiders! Defend the gods' gifts!" _Oh boy_...Twenty zealots.

"Full-automatic! Mow them down!" I fired my own rifle as C-14's clattered, hammering the zealots with hundreds of gauss spikes in only a few seconds. _Standard anti-protoss tactics: massed fire. _"Keep moving!" I shouted.

We scampered over the fallen protoss, their platinum armor riddled with holes. Even in death, there was something...off...about them. I stored that away for processing later.

"Ambush!" A marine screamed. I spun to my left in time to see the marine who'd given the warning scythed by a psionic blade. More zealots had successfully flanked us, threatening to overwhelm us in this tight space.

I poured bolts at a zealot who speared a marine with one of his blades and threw the CMC-clad man aside. The zealot's energy shields collapsed as it swiveled to face me, and then a few shots brought it down before it could do more than stagger in my direction.

A second zealot swung his blades straight at me, forcing me to duck underneath the swipes. Throwing myself at him right-shoulder first, I knocked the fanatic to the ground. I snapped my fist into his face repeatedly, until the warrior finally stopped moving. Back on my feet, I drew my power sword. Within a few heartbeats, I found myself in a duel with a far more-skilled opponent.

This Tal'darim zealot's armor was more exquisite than the rest. _A captain, I recognized_. _Fantastic._ The veteran zealot's blades flashed in a blur of motion, and only the crackle of energy on energy told me that I was managing to block the lightning-quick blows. I was tiring, while the zealot was so calm and composed he could have been in a training session. _I guess centuries of experience does give you that advantage..._Yet, I'd been instructed by Aiur's finest. My heart was racing, but my mind was at peace. This zealot wasn't going to bring _me _down without one hell of a fight.

As I continued to parry lunges and slashes, I lashed out with my right leg, catching the zealot unprepared. The centuries-old warrior was thrown off, stunned by the 'dishonor' and unconventionality of my rather desperate ploy.

That moment of hesitation was enough. Thousands of hours of practice kicked in, and I slid my blade into a lunge. The humming power sword cut through the zealot's ornamental silver power suit and nicked his throat. Astonished, the protoss backed away from me, holding a hand to the wound. Looking down at it, the zealot blanched in disbelief when he saw blue blood on it. _His _blood. The burning intensity of the captain's blue eyes seemed to dim as the life flowed out of him. He took one last furious step and then fell in a heap.

"Damn! Now _that _was awesome!" An Omega Squadron marine exclaimed. "Oo-rah!"

I scanned my surroundings. A dozen zealots laid lifeless on the floor of ruins millions of years old, joined by a score of marines, nine of them from A company. A high price to pay. We'd make the Tal'darim pay for every last one.

Rob huffed. "Zone's clear. We're not too far out from the Temple. Expect more of the 'toss. As you've seen, the bastards play hardball. Watch your sixes."

I nodded. "What he said. Enough people have died today. Let's get to the artifact and end it." I placed my sword back into the sheath, grabbing my rifle. Time to roll.

"Shit." Rob spat. "The Tal'darim have a damned FOB set up. Pylons, photon cannons...no way we can take 'em head-on. But their base only prevents attacks from the front. If we sneak behind them, we can get to the core relatively unscathed."

"Then let's make it happen. Keep your noise level down and your senses sharp." I ordered. Together, we crept by the Tal'darim base, keeping our eyes fixed on the left in dread. If a single probe or sentry saw us, we were all dead men.

We were almost out of range of the base when I heard a chirp. "Oh god…" An observer decloaked in front of us, beeping repeatedly as if it were mocking us. I angrily blasted the observer with a string of plasma bolts, but the damage had been done. Cries of alarm and religious fervor carried from the base over to us as the ground seemed to shake with the impacts of hundreds of protoss men and machines.

The Omegas halted. "You boys go on. We'll cover you, buy you some time...Get outta here!" I was too tired and discouraged to argue. We would be swallowed whole by so many protoss.

"Thanks," was all I could say. "Good luck." _Lamest line ever...but what choice did I have_? My men followed me dutifully onward. Minutes later, we could hear weapons fire. The sound began to dwindle, until we could pick out the individual rifles. Then silence. The protoss must have thought that was all of us, because they withdrew back to their base. _Good men all_.

We finally arrived at a low ridge overlooking the nearby Temple, where a huge battle was raging.

"Whoa…" Rob muttered. "Would you look at that...the umojans have teeth."

I followed his gaze to see a large contingent of protoss surrounding the Temple. Four Immortals shelled positions inside the temple as a wave of zealots and sentries charged into a veritable _flood _of defensive fire, supported by stalkers that blinked and fired, blinked and fired, over and over again. A sniper rifle barked, and a senior zealot's legs fell out from under him. The others roared in fury, redoubling their efforts.

I shook my head. "I'm not throwing less than a company of men at them. That'd be suicide. We'd be butchered by the protoss. The Temple won't stand long after that. Wait for now; don't engage until I give the command myself. Over."

Whoever was directing the defense was smart. They were focusing firepower on the stalkers. The zealots and sentries were less mobile, and the immortals, though they packed more firepower and were more resilient than siege tanks, were too far away. As I watched, a pair of stalkers fell to marauder-fire. There were eight of them left, and I could see a dozen other stalker wreckages littering the battlefield.

The temple was a natural fortress. A cliff face covered it on both sides, which meant the only way in was through the front door. Defenders could just post all their men at the front and wait for the enemy to come to them, although artillery-fire like that of the Immortals would certainly cause damage. The Tal'darim didn't want to destroy the temple, so the effectiveness of the Immortals was limited. Overall, the umojans had the clear advantage, but the protoss' superior technology and possibly numbers meant that they'd force their way inside eventually.

Safely next to the three Immortals, an ornately-armored Tal'darim, possibly a praetor, was bellowing something about 'the exalted one' to his squad of guards, who repeated his words. From the side, a glowing _green_ archon emerged._ Since when were archons green? _

Spikes and grenades smashed into the ground and air all around it, but the archon ponderously advanced, until it mounted the long staircase and stood upon the threshold of the temple. It unleashed a powerful psionic shockwave. Dozens of sniper rifles were cracking, but the archon barely slowed, the .50 caliber slugs deflected by the archon's shields and body. Archons were pure energy, so it was inconceivably hard to kill them unless you had energy weapons.

The zealots took the chance to advance, calling out to the xel'naga for victory as they swept deeper into the temple. The umojans' fire slackened. More psionic shockwaves emanated from the archon. The immortals adjusted their twin phase disruptors to fire over the main entrance. A massacre was about to begin in earnest.

"Okay men, now's the time. Once we get out there, our first priority is to disable those goddamn Immortals. Sure, they can shrug off Crucio shells, but they're vulnerable to attacks from lighter weapons. Their shields don't activate if you shoot gauss rifles at the thing; they're engineered to deflect only moderate to heavy fire. So in five...four…._GO_!"

My men chuckled as we swarmed over the ridge in two rows, all of us shooting for all we were worth. Hundreds of rounds sparkled on the Immortals' armor. Smoke vented from tiny breaches all over the three artillery walkers, more appearing by the second. Concussion grenades from our remaining marauders rocked the Immortals, and then they began to teeter over and collapse.

The Tal'darim praetor and his guards snarled in defiance at us, activating their psionic blades in an 'honorable' show of strength and courage, but we didn't even pause in our assault. The dozen or so guard zealots died quickly, cut down by rifle fire from nearly a hundred different Impalers, and the praetor took a trio of grenades to the face.

Up the steps I went, nearly tripping more than once over bodies and ancient stairs. The Tal'darim, in their mad rush, hadn't posted any reserves to guard the entrance. In all likelihood, they didn't even know that their CO and artillery support were out of the equation.

A few yards from the entrance, we could see a solidly-constructed barricade. A few platoons' worth of umojan marines and marauders had fallen there. Not too far away, I could see a makeshift medical station. Eight medics were sprawled out inside of it with the score or so wounded, all dead. Six goliaths had provided fire support, all reduced to scrap metal. A few snipers' nests loomed above us, built into the temple walls...Shadowguards...more than a dozen of their lifeless forms were slumped over the edges of the 'nests.'

It had been a well-organized defense while it lasted. Fallen marines covered the ground behind the goliaths, sliced down or shot as they fled. By a command station some thirty-odd yards away, I found the late Colonel Sage and a few aides. _Were we too late? Did no survivors exist in the whole temple? Had the Tal'darim already reached the core? _

I unsheathed my sword, which since I'd forgotten to clean it after our last few run-ins with the Tal'darim, had blue blood on it. My men sensed my dark mood, sliding out bayonets and clicking their C-14's to full-automatic. The marauders positioned themselves in the rear.

I raised my sword and then lowered my arm slightly, breaking into a sprint. I didn't know any umojans, but they were humans. These Tal'darim? They were religious extremists, equivalent to the many terrorist organizations back on Earth. Equivalent, in a way, to the batarian slavers and all the mercenaries who'd struck Elysium.

Up ahead, we could hear the zealots and sentries engaging unseen terrans. The last few ranks of the zealot force came into view. "_Kill them all_!" I roared.

We crashed into them like an avalanche of neosteel, knocking down their entire first rank. Bayonet thrusts efficiently finished them off. Many of the men hurled themselves at the next zealots they encountered, driving them to the floor so that they could render the zealots defenseless. Others began emptying their magazines onto the tall aliens, the armor-piercing 8mm depleted uranium spikes carving through plasma shields, platinum armor, and gray flesh alike. Marauders focused on the sentries, frying them with concussion grenades.

I swung my sword over and over at everything silver-colored I could see, the weapon tearing through power suits and crackling on zealots' psionic blades. I didn't count how many zealots I killed, but it must have been at least five.

The Tal'darim were rolled back by the ferocity of our offensive. Dozens of them had fallen before they could even react, and the distraction had opened them up to umojan fire, which doubtless took down even more of the fanatics.

In the heat of the moment, I'd completely forgot about the archon. The next thing I knew, a surge of green energy stopped us cold in our tracks. The zealots regrouped despite their losses.

I swore. "Marauders, shatter them!" The lumbering armored infantry complied, firing a barrage of dozens of concussion grenades that sent zealots flying and sentries spinning out of control. I waved the marines up for another charge. We scrambled past the marauders and into the devastated zealot formation.

This time we hit them like a sledgehammer, but the zealots were more prepared and fought back ferociously. The archon used slow but potent smashes to pulverize the marines that tried to confront it. I tackled it from the side, only to _bounce _off uselessly.

The archon was surprised, but he thumped a glowing green fist into my chest, sending me flying over the Tal'darim lines and onto the ground hard. Winded, I was catching my breath when a zealot came at me. Rolling out of the way, I drew my rifle, firing blindly. The zealot knocked away the rifle, raising an arm to stab downwards, but a sniper rifle round smacked into him. He recoiled as if he'd been slapped in the face, slumping to the ground.

_-Stay down_- I blinked in confusion. Who…._Oh. Psionics can communicate telepathically. Right… _Three more zealots detached themselves from the melee to storm toward me. A hail of C-14 fire dispatched the Tal'darim warriors.

"Marauders, there aren't many tangos left. Fuck them up!" The heavy infantry followed my command and fired so many grenades that the area was covered in smoke and fire for a couple of microticks. When the area cleared, none of the zealots were still standing. "Status?"

"We have 68 men, sir." Robert reported. "Four are wounded-Lewis is tending to them. Scanners aren't reading any more enemies in zone. We're alone with the umojans for now. Over." _Oh yeah...the umojans. _

I got to my feet and pointed my rifle in the direction of the sniper rifle fire. "Umojans, show yourselves. I know you're there. Thanks for the assist. Can we secure the artifact _before _more of the angry protoss show up? _Please_?"

A squad of eight white-armored marines slowly walked out of their hiding spots, keeping their Impalers carefully aimed at the floor to show that they meant us no harm. Off to the side, three white and neon-blue clad shadowguards materialized, disengaging their cloaking devices.

"Who's in charge here?" I asked. I had an idea about that, but I waited for them to answer me.

"That'd be me." One of the shadowguards stepped forward, resting her sniper rifle lazily against a pillar. "Agent Tesla, at your service." I glanced at the brown-haired, green-eyed psionic agent.

"Nice to meet you, agent Tesla. Thanks again for the covering fire. Where's the core?"

"If only you knew…" _Okay seriously, don't sass me. You're outnumbered about four to one, and there is an army of Tal'darim and a brood of zerg looking for the thing. Would you rather have _me _take it, or Omega squadron? Maybe Dominion ghosts? 'Cuz that's what you'll get. _

Tesla gazed at me, as if she were looking for something. It made me distinctly uncomfortable. As she opened her mouth to answer, I saw the archon sweeping at us from behind her. "Get down!" I barked. Tesla lifted her sniper rifle in confusion, but I batted it aside and shoved the shadowguard out of the way. Turning, I pulled out my sword. The archon grinned fiercely. "Die, puny human!"

"Not today." I retorted. "Marauders!"

"What? Sir! You're in the blast radius!" Rob shouted.

"This mission is worth more than just one man, more than all of us! Kill this archon, and get to the damn core. That's an order!"

"...You heard the man! Open _up_!" The marauders reluctantly aimed at us. The archon reared back in disbelief and terror. I set my jaw into a firm line to suppress my own nervousness. There were worse ways for a marine to go down in this messed up Koprulu Sector.

A split second before the grenades hit, I noticed a wavering forcefield of psionic energy ripple into existence like a bubble, shielding me. Dozens of grenades exploded all around, but the barrier held. Finally, the archon teetered over, fried by the copious grenade detonations.

Looking every which way to locate whoever was responsible for saving me just now, I glimpsed Tesla falling to her knees. Rushing over, I dragged her back upright. She was out of breath, sweating profusely. "We're...even…" she managed to cough out. She collapsed into my arms. _A shadowguard with a sense of honor. _ I leaned her against the wall gently.

"Anna, front and center. See if you can help her out." The young medic complied, crouching over the barely conscious covert operative. _Okay, agent. As I was saying, where is the core? _

The shadowguard's eyelids fluttered open weakly. _Take my fone. It's all there_. Tesla reached into a pocket in her suit and removed the electronic device. Lewis waved me over, handing me the fone. I accepted it. Observing that it was off, I put my finger on the power button, but to my amazement, it did so on its _own. _Soon enough, the map of the temple was displayed, with a mark on the position of the core.

_Nifty trick, huh_? _It's called technopathy. I'm not the best at it, but I picked up a thing or two. _

I stared at the umojan. _Why am I _not _surprised? You, miss, are frakking crazy. _"Rob, muster the men. We're rolling. The core's not too far from here. Lewis, take a fireteam and hold this room. Everyone else? With me. Umojans, lead the way. Switch your comms to channel three-five-one bravo. Marauders, cover the flanks and rear. Marines, stay vigilant. Move!"

Together, we traversed through the dimly-lit xel'naga structure, approaching the temple's central chamber. Sitting on top of the table inside was a black chip that glowed neon blue. _The core_?

_You're looking at it...Sorry. Couldn't help it._

I smirked. _Thanks for that, Captain obvious._

_It's Lieutenant, actually. _

_Smartass_. "Mission success, ladies and gents. Let's regroup with Lewis and agent Tesla and find our way back to the others. Good work people." I pumped my right fist into the air, my marines jubilantly following suit. The marauders straightened in pride.

"Edmunds, this is Lee. We have the core. Over."

His response was _not _what I was expecting. "Get your shit together, Lee! You have _zerg_ coming your way! Reikson and Stennis missed a few of them. They're heading over to relieve you, but you _have _to survive 'till then, Richard! Edmunds out!"

"You all heard that?" My men nodded grimly. "Form a defensive square around the central chamber. We've got zerg coming out way!" I clenched my plasma rifle tightly.

The ancient building reverberated with the chittering of countless zerg. Shadows danced across the walls. More than a few of the men took a nervous step backward. Rob was there to clap them on the back and restore their confidence.

I forced a steady tone. "Fire on my command _only_." The zerg closed in, scrabbling on the ancient stone with their claws. "Wait for it…" I could make out the outlines of zerglings and hydralisks. "Wait for it…" One of the hydralisks unleashed a volley of spines that tore a line of holes into the ground in front of us.

"FIRE!" Alpha company kept their training in mind, bringing down the hydralisks first. The zerg bloodthirsty chattering turned into high-pitched shrieks as 8mm depleted uranium gauss spikes launched with enough momentum to punch through concrete walls punctured their carapaces and sent chunks of zerg biomatter and limbs flying.

The zerglings didn't stand a chance. With the first wave of zerg defeated, some of the men cheered prematurely. They weren't able to react in time to fend off the banelings. "Banelings! Don't let them get close!" I hollered in vain. Green balls rolled into our midst, covering unlucky marines in corrosive acid. "Re-form! Re-form! Roaches!" I fired desperately, blue bolts streaking into the particularly tough zerg breed.

The roaches opened their mouths, unleashing floods of acid. Marines choked and sat down heavily onto the floor, their whole front halves covered in bubbling green fluid. A blast of psionic energy toasted as they opened their mouths a second time. "One of the shadowguards is down; over-extended himself. Killed the roaches, but he fried his own brain too." Rob reported, hushed.

"Affirmative. Stay frosty, men. There's bound to be more zerg." I tensed at that thought.

"Aw hell...'lings!" Robert warned. "Shoot 'em!" I was all too happy to obey the senior sergeant's panicked cry. "Hold them _off_!" He called.

The next ten minutes were hell. Dozens upon dozens of zerglings flung themselves at our lines, indifferent of how many of their fellows fell to our C-14 fire. One-by-one, marines were pounced on, driven helplessly to the floor and ripped apart by the furious arthropodic insectoids. My ears were ringing with the clattering of gauss rifles. It this kept up, I'd emerge from the battle a deaf man...it's odd what the human mind conjures up in times of great stress.

Someone tapped my shoulder. I felt the touch, but I continued firing blindly. My mind jolted. "Ow!"

"Thanks, miss Tesla." Rob said to the Shadowguard. "Sir, as I was _trying _to tell you, all the zerglings are dead. There's nobody left to shoot...you okay sir?"

"Yeah...just peachy." I slapped myself to rouse my dulling senses. "Sitrep?"

"Forty-two men standing." Robert replied solemnly.

I pounded the wall in frustration. "_Damn it!_" I calmed myself. "Let's go...Edmunds, Richard here. We're still kicking."

"Thank God. Reikson and Stennis are not too far from the Temple. We've fought off the zerg for now. Get to their coordinates."

"Sure thing, Edmunds. I'll get on that. Over and out."

I blanched when Vaughn's voice came over the general comm without warning. "This is Captain Vaughn. _Khalai_ Protoss naval forces have arrived. They are focusing on the zerg. Be advised: they may interfere with our ground operations." I hoped not-I didn't know what I'd do if I came face-to-face with them; I'd lived among them for a _long _time.

I spotted Dominion marines standing at attention, letting out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. It had been a chaotic interval (day), but it was over. Soon enough, we'd be safe and sound back in Korhal, and I could turn over the core to Valerian's Moebius contacts.

_Colonel. _I need to have a conversation with Tesla about getting into peoples' heads. I was used to it, but most people hated being 'violated' mentally intensely. _Sir, stop being childish. This is important_. Whoa...she called me sir! _Listen: there's something fishy about those marines_.

I guffawed. _Those are Omega Squadron marines. Nobody likes them, and they're very brutal toward umojan POW's, but you don't have to make your bias _that _obvious, lieutenant. _

_No, I'm serious. This isn't a jab at their reputation. I swear, there's suspicion written all over them. _

_Duly noted…you sure you're not being adversely affected by that stunt you pulled off with the psionic forcefield? _

_Ugh...What do I need to say for you to believe me? _

"Welcome back, Colonel Lee." Reikson said. "Hand over the core, please." _Balls_…

"I don't _have _it, Reikson." I lied.

"Oh really? Because I heard that you entered in a secret deal with crown prince Valerian to dupe the Emperor. You were planning on delivering it to the Moebius Foundation…" _For fuck's sake_…

"Fork it over. You're outnumbered two-to-one."

"Stennis, listen to me...Reikson's betrayed us. Once you hear gunfire, engage them!" I focused back on Reikson before I could find out if the Captain heard me or not. "I don't think so, Lieutenant Commander. I think you're slandering my name."

"Heh, why don't we find out? Men, execute these traitors!" Reikson screeched. Agnarsson yanked me into cove. Lewis and two more marines ducked in with us, Tesla in tow. "...What? The rest of the 151st betrayed us? Obliterate them!" _Seriously? That has to be one of the cheesiest lines I've heard in my life._

"Crimson Dragon, this is Stennis. We're holding our own, but we're pinned down."

"Stennis, don't count on me for help. Alpha's been reduced to six men and women. Try to send out a company or two to flank them. As long as you can bring more guns to bear, we can still win this. Don't let Reikson drag you into a sustained firefight."

"He's flanking _us_!...Push them back!" _Crap...this is bad_.

"Surrender, Lee! We'll spare your troops!"

"He's lying," Tesla growled. "He'll just have all of your men resocialized."

"Stennis! Retreat! Take the 151st to Edmunds. He'll vouch for you!" I promised.

"But-"

"No buts! Leave me behind. I'm entrusting the battalion to you. Don't let me down!"

"...Yes sir."

"Tesla...if you cloak, you can make it out. One of the 57th Mechanized Infantry Division's three regiments is quartered to the south of here. Tell the CO there I sent you, and you'll get a free trip to wherever you want. I'm not getting out of this one alive...My luck was bound to run out someday. I guess this is the day. You're a competent operative. You'll go far. I can tell."

"I'm flattered, but I can't. The core was my personal responsibility, as per Colonel Sage's orders. Since you have it now, and the unit my team was posted to has been virtually wiped out, I'm afraid you're stuck with me, lieutenant colonel."

"What the psychic said," Rob echoed. "Ain't leavin' you to face the bastards alone, sir."

"I'd be a terrible marine if I left my commanding officer to die." Lewis input mildly.

"You're fools, then." I muttered gruffly, touched at their loyalty. "_All _of you."

"Aww...how moving." Reikson clapped mockingly. "I think I'm going to cry."

"Son of a bitch." Rob glowered at him. "Your time's coming."

"Sooner than you'd believe," A new voice added in the signature 'speech' of the protoss. Wait...Protoss? What in the name of Aiur…A golden-armored figure halted next to me, looking imperiously down at the Officer in-charge of Omega squadron.

"Protoss…" Reikson snarled. "You can't stop the Dominion's finest. Surrender and I _won't_ turn you over to Project Blackstone."

"You are a fool, Reikson. You truly believe that I arrived alone to Cavernus?" I heard the familiar sound of protoss troops warping in. Grinning, I remembered who this newcomer was. Praetor Naoros, my brother-in-arms himself.

Reikson's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "Uh...err...MEN?! OPEN FIRE!" The resocialized marines did so, but the normal marines did the smart thing-they ran for their lives.

"_Khassar de Templari_!" From order comes justice; the motto of the zealot order. A torrent of ten-foot warriors surged past me, blades flashing. Sentries cast guardian shields and stalkers tore the Omegas apart piecemeal-a few of them would surround a squad, gun them down, and then blink away to another unassuming squad's position. Reikson's men were quickly being overwhelmed, unaccustomed to fighting a numerically-superior force of protoss.

"I owe you one, Naoros." I said.

"We are brothers, Richard. I am merely ensuring the safety of family. I claim no debts."

"What took you so long, anyway? Cavernus is a _lot _closer to Shakuras then Dominion space is."

"That is true, but this time your Dominion was far more successful at keeping their operation a secret. Luckily, my spymaster is one of the most vigilant of all."

"I see...you realize I can't give you the core, right?"

"Core?" Naoros's expression was one of amusement and mock-confusion. "I have heard not of any 'core.' How can I take away an object that does not exist?"

I grinned. "You're the best, bro."

"Of course...terrans," he glanced at my companions. "You are all fortunate you have my brother as your...CO. Take my word for it: no terran is quite like him, for more reasons than one. Richard, we shall meet again soon. War is brewing…" Naroros's voice became distant. "After nearly four years, the stage is set once more for a Great War. Stay safe, brother."

"Likewise, Naoros. I daresay Tassadar will be pissed if you join him before I do."

"Haha…you are a comedian...worry not, I will ensure he is graced with your company first." We shook hands firmly. "Farewell."

"See ya." I waved. He nodded, going off to join his men in mopping up the remnants of the Omegas. "Don't accidentally kill _my _men, please!" I reminded him.

My dumbfounded subordinates were shocked into speechlessness. Finally, Rob broke the silence. "You never said you were that close with the Toss."

"You never asked. I lived with the protoss for nearly six years before being given a lieutenant colonel's commission by Crown prince Valerian. Aiur, before it fell, was my second home."

"What do we do with the agent?" He inquired.

"Cavernus III's pretty much a Dominion colony now. If we were to just let her go, I'm 100% positive Nova Squadron would nab her. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Tesla, stick with us for now. Once we get back to Korhal, I can have Prince Valerian arrange a ride to Umoja for you, or...you can join the 151st. After all, I did just lose an entire company in this operation."

"Sir?" Robert questioned.

"We could use your expertise. I don't have any psionics in the one-five-one. Sure, you could feed umojan intelligence with any info that you pick up from me, but all life's a gamble, and you don't look like that type of underhanded individual. In the end, it's your choice. What do you think?"

"...I'd be happy to. It's…not like I have anywhere else to go."

"Cool. Welcome aboard then. Agnarsson, let's get to Stennis and the rest of the boys. This is enough fighting for one day, I think."

* * *

The memories stopped playing. "That's the story. Or at least, part of it."

Shepard and his squad were both confused and impressed. "I'll bet that battle wasn't even the craziest you've been through?" Shepard hypothesized.

"You'd be right. The Braxis, Aiur, Tarsonis, Char, and Ulnar Campaigns were the worst. This battle was a tiny skirmish compared to those five. But it's a good sampling of how wars are fought back in Koprulu. They're chaotic and brutal."

I'd originally decided to show these memories to cheer everyone up and make them at least temporarily forget about Mordin's death. It was working. Conversations were springing up as I answered Shepard. I inwardly grinned at the change in the room's atmosphere.

"So what's the plan now, Commander?" Shaun asked.

"Now we wait until the _Normandy _docks at the Citadel. Councilor Valern wanted to talk to me about Udina, remember? I hope Udina's not a genuine traitor. The Alliance Parliament and Prime Minister Shastri are already dead. Humanity can't lose its councilor too."

"Even if it _does,_" I corrected. "The Terran Dominion and Protoss Protectorate carry considerable weight. We'd be happy to keep Earth's interests in mind. We may not have a council seat, but the zerg, terrans, and protoss united are far more powerful than the citadel can ever hope to be."

"Plenty of folks back home would appreciate that, I'm sure." Shepard agreed.

"To Earth, the Milky Way, and the defeat of the Reapers." Shaun toasted the two of us jokingly, even though he only had a cup of water. We humorously joined in on the toast, forgetting about the apocalyptic war that raged across the galaxy for a time, lost in old memories, nostalgia for the good old days, and fantasies of a glorious victory.

* * *

**This chapter's shorter than usual, but we'll be returning to the main Reaper War storyline after this. **

**Next chapter: The Citadel coup.**

**Follow and Favorite the story if you like it, and don't hesitate to leave a review or PM me with any questions you have.**


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